A blaze killed “dozens” of people and injured more than 100 others in a bar in a ski resort as partygoers celebrated the arrival of the new year in the early hours of Thursday morning, Swiss police say.
What happened?
A fire broke out at 1:30am (00:30 GMT) at Le Constellation, a bar in the centre of the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, police said in a statement on Thursday.
Crans-Montana is about 200km south of the Swiss capital, Bern.
“There has been an explosion of unknown origin,” Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesperson in Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told the AFP news agency.
The bar is a popular tourist venue in the town. At the time of the incident, more than 100 people were present, Swiss media outlet Blick reported, quoting police.
What do we know about the victims?
During a news conference on Thursday, Frederic Gisler, the police commander in the Valais Canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters that “several dozens” of people were presumed dead in the incident, without specifying the exact number. He added that more than 100 people had been injured.
Later on Thursday morning, the Italian foreign ministry, quoting Swiss police, said it understood that about 40 people had died.
A medical source told broadcaster RTS that hospitals in French-speaking Switzerland had been overwhelmed with burn victims. Most of those injured were in a serious condition, regional councillor Mathias Renard said. Police said that some victims were from other countries.
Valais hospital’s intensive care unit is full, and patients were being transferred elsewhere, he added.
How have authorities responded?
After being alerted to the blaze, 10 helicopters, 40 ambulances and 150 responders were sent to the scene. Police said most of the injured have “significant” injuries with severe burns. Many have been taken to the Valais hospital.
The area around the bar has been completely closed off to the public and a no-fly zone over Crans-Montana has been imposed.
So far, there is no information about what may have caused the fire.
“We’re just at the beginning of our investigation, but this is an internationally renowned ski resort with lots of tourists,” Lathion said.
Beatrice Pilloud, the prosecutor-general of the Valais canton in southwestern Switzerland, told the news conference, “currently we are favouring a fire and at no time is there question of any attack”.
Lathion added that a reception centre and helpline – +41 848 112 117 – have been set up to provide support to affected families. “The intervention is still ongoing,” he added.
How common is an incident like this in Switzerland?
Incidents like this are uncommon in Switzerland – fires and explosions in recent years have been minor.
In June 2024, two people were found dead following a blast in an underground parking garage at an apartment building in northern Switzerland, which also injured 11 people. Police told local media that the explosion had been caused by homemade fireworks.
Possibly the biggest explosion in Swiss history happened at Mitholz Ammunition Depot in December 1947 when 3,000 tonnes of Swiss army ammunition from World War II, which had been buried in the mountains above Mitholz, blew up. Nine people were killed and several others were injured.
In February 1970, a bomb exploded on a Swissair flight bound for Israel, killing 39 passengers and nine crew members on board. It is unclear who was behind the attack. Some local media reported that a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) splinter group was behind the bombing, but this has never been confirmed or proven.
