By Emma Farge and Denis Balibouse
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Around 40 people were killed and 115 injured when a fire ripped through
a crowded bar during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, officials said on Thursday.
Police said the fire broke out at 1.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) as revellers were celebrating in a bar called Le Constellation in the resort in southwestern Switzerland, which locals said was popular with teenagers.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the disaster as "one of the worst tragedies our country has ever known" and said most of the dead were young people.
The cause of the blaze, which was initially reported as an explosion, remained unclear but authorities said the fire appeared to be an accident rather than an attack.
SCENES OF PANIC
Video footage verified by Reuters showed fire spreading from the building, and witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion as people rushed to get out.
"There were people screaming, and then people lying on the ground, probably dead," said 21-year-old local Samuel Rapp, who saw the aftermath of the fire. "They had jackets over their faces - well, that's what I saw, nothing more."
The head of the local canton's police, Frederic Gisler, said around 40 people were presumed to be dead and 115 were injured, most of them seriously. He said it was too early to give details on the identity of the dead and injured but Italian authorities said 16 Italians were missing and about a dozen in hospital.
Two young French women who said they were in the bar told France's BFM TV that they saw the fire start in the basement section of the club after a bottle containing "birthday candles" was held up too close to the wooden ceiling.
"The fire spread across the ceiling super quickly," one of the two women, who identified themselves as Emma and Albane, told BFM TV. The pair said they were able to climb a narrow staircase to the ground floor and escape the building. Minutes later, the fire had reached the ground floor too, they said.
BFM showed video of a waitress carrying a champagne bottle with a lit "fountain candle" through the bar, one of many in Crans-Montana, a fashionable ski centre with an array of boutiques, luxury hotels and restaurants. But the footage did not show the fire breaking out.
Local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation had been opened into the blaze at the bar, which Swiss company records showed was owned by a French couple, but she said it was too early to comment on any possible safety failures.
"There are still many circumstances to be clarified... The most likely scenario at present is that a widespread fire caused an explosion," she told a press conference.
VICTIMS COME FROM SEVERAL COUNTRIES
Witnesses said many of those celebrating in the bar appeared to be from different countries but officials said the grim task of identifying badly burned bodies would take time.
Italy's ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told Sky TG24 local authorities had told him the fire was started by someone letting off a firework inside the bar. He was in Crans-Montana, where he said a number of Italians had gathered seeking information about missing relatives or friends.
Witnesses described injured being treated in improvised triage centres set up in a nearby bar and in a branch of UBS bank and said many suffered after coming out of the heat of the bar into the freezing night air.
"And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth as much as possible," said Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the frantic scenes as the bodies were brought out.
Video footage showed lines of ambulances queuing and helicopters landing to take victims to nearby hospitals and specialist burns units in other Swiss cities, including Lausanne and Zurich. Switzerland's neighbours, France, Germany and Italy also offered to treat victims in their own centres.
On Thursday morning, footage from the street outside showed the area cordoned off, with forensic tents behind white screens set up in front of the bar.
The quiet daylight scene, in which small groups of people huddled together, some in tears, some carrying flowers, was a stark contrast to the panic and confusion that confronted first responders hours earlier.
"The first responders - the firefighters and police officers - arrived at a scene of chaos, at a dramatic scene," Stephane Ganzer, head of security for Valais canton, told reporters.
Crans-Montana is due to host next year's Alpine World Ski Championships. Swiss officials said the fire, which came less than a year after a fire in a club in North Macedonia killed 59 people, was unprecedented in Switzerland.
"What was meant to be a moment of joy turned, on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana, into mourning that touches the entire country and far beyond," Parmelin said on the social media platform X.
(Additional reporting by Dave Graham in Zurich, Crispian Balmer in Rome, Richard Lough in Paris, Kirsti Knolle in Berlin, Chris Steitz in Frankfurt and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Writing by James Mackenzie;Editing by Neil Fullick, Gareth Jones, Philippa Fletcher, Ros Russell)
