Dozens presumed dead, 100 injured in Swiss bar explosion

Several dozen people are presumed dead and around 100 were injured in an explosion which ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve, authorities have said.

The majority of those hurt are said to be seriously injured.

The Italian foreign ministry said information from Swiss police indicated about 40 deaths, but police would not be more specific than "tens" at a press conference on the incident.

"Several dozen people are presumed to have died," Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Valais canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters.

Forty ambulances and ten helicopters were mobilised and the ICU at the nearby Valais Hospital is full, with injured people being transferred elsewhere, authorities said during a press briefing.

Some of the victims are from other countries, said Stephane Ganzer, head of security for the Valais canton.

The explosion was not being considered an attack, prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud said, adding that authorities were ‍trying to get the bodies of the victims to their families.

Earlier, police said that as revellers rang in the new year, a "fire of undetermined origin" broke out in a bar popular with tourists.

"Several people lost their lives and others were injured," the police statement said, describing the incident as "serious" and said "a major emergency response is under way".

A tourist from New York filmed bright orange flames pouring from the bar, and said he saw people running and screaming in the dark.

Swiss daily Blick cited a doctor at the scene suggesting that the death toll could be in the "dozens".

Regional daily Le Nouvelliste also said its sources were describing "a heavy toll", with "around 40 dead and 100 injured".

Swiss media suggested that the fire may have started when pyrotechnics were used during a concert, but police said the cause was unknown.

Police spokesman Gaetan Lathion earlier there had first been an "explosion of unknown origin".

He said the explosion took place at around 1.30am local time (12.30am Irish time) in a bar called Le Constellation.

Police said the areas was "completely closed to the public", and that "a no-fly zone over Crans-Montana has been imposed.

"The party was in full swing... music and champagne flowing freely," a resident who said they lived nearby told 24 heures, a Lausanne newspaper.

But as news of the fire broke, they said, the carefree mood vanished and people began gathering in the street. "We could hear the sirens in the distance. Around me, people were stunned, worried, silent."

"We heard helicopters all night long," another resident told 24 heures.

"With the fireworks, we didn't understand what was going on at first. Then we saw the smoke. It's terrible, a lot of young people go to that bar."