Image appears to show moment bar ceiling caught fire
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point the ceiling caught fire inside Le Constellation nightclub in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The image may have been subjected to some digital enhancement and subsequently the Guardian has blurred some identifying personal details.
Key events
Earlier we reported that Poland had offered specialised medical care (see 10.37am GMT) as overwhelmed Swiss burn units send victims of the ski resort fire in Crans-Montana to neighbouring countries.
The Polish offer of help includes four ICU beds and 10 for patients with less severe injuries, a Polish interior ministry spokesperson said.
The beds are located at the southern Siemianowice Slaskie hospital, which specialises in the treatment of burns and chronic injuries, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Poland has also proposed deploying two medics on the ground, as well as aircraft to transport the 14 injured to the Polish hospital.
Crans-Montana fire survivors treated in burns units across Europe
Deborah Cole
Survivors of the catastrophic bar fire in the upmarket Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are being cared for in special burns units across Europe, while investigators say many of the dead were so badly burned that it could take days or weeks to identify them.
About 40 people were killed and 115 injured when the blaze ripped through a New Year’s Eve celebration in the packed Constellation bar and basement nightclub.
Crans-Montana’s mayor, Nicolas Féraud, said:
The first objective is to assign names to all the bodies.
The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions” as he described the devastating toll. “Behind these figures are faces, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or for ever changed,” Parmelin said at a news conference.
So severe were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said identification work was particularly gruelling. Parents of missing youths issued pleas for news of their loved ones and foreign embassies scrambled to work out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to strike modern Switzerland.
Mathias Reynard, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental records and DNA samples for the task. He said:
All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100% sure.
Despite having one of the world’s most advanced medical systems, Switzerland’s regional clinics quickly reached capacity in the hours after the blaze. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with specialised burns units in Zurich and Lausanne and six were taken to Geneva, according to a Swiss news agency.
Many more of the injured were transported to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU said it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance.
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point just before the ceiling caught fire inside Le Constellation nightclub in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
The image may have been subjected to some digital enhancement.
Image appears to show moment bar ceiling caught fire
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point the ceiling caught fire inside Le Constellation nightclub in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The image may have been subjected to some digital enhancement and subsequently the Guardian has blurred some identifying personal details.
A Swiss flag flies at half-mast at the Federal Palace, Bern, today following a fire at Le Constellation bar and lounge that killed and injured several people during New Year’s celebrations.
Italian foreign minister: some survivors still unidentified due to ‘horrific’ injuries
Thirteen Italians remain in hospital, with five of them having suffered “severe injuries and burns”, according to the Italian foreign minister.
Antonio Tajani added that six more Italian nationals are unaccounted for following the devastating fire at the Swiss ski resort bar.
Speaking to the media, Tajani said that Italy has offered burns units in Italian hospitals, and has sent burns specialists, psychologists and coroners to help with the identification of the victims.
He also said that three of the 115 injured people in hospital have not yet been identified because their injuries are too severe.
“Identification is an issue. There are three people who are injured who have not been identified. We hope that they may be among the Italians missing … the injuries of those who survived are also horrific.”
He added that images circulating of ignited sparklers inside the venue “does seem to be an irresponsible choice. Something clearly went wrong here, something didn’t work. Judges will carry out an investigation and apportion responsibility.”
Authorities on Friday began moving the bodies of victims of a fire that ripped through a crowded bar a day before in a Swiss ski resort town to a funeral centre in a nearby city, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The first silver-coloured hearse rolled into the funeral centre in Sion shortly after 11am (10am GMT), according to AFP journalists on the scene. It was followed by several other hearses.
Families and loved ones of those who attended a New Year’s celebration at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana face an agonising wait for news. Reuters has this report:
“I have been searching for my son for 30 hours. The wait is unbearable,” Laetitia, the mother of missing 16-year-old Arthur, told BFM TV, saying she was desperate to know if he was alive or dead, and where.
Laetitia added:
If he’s in the hospital, I don’t know which hospital he’s in. If he’s in the morgue, I don’t know which morgue he’s in. If my son is alive, he’s alone in the hospital, and I can’t be by his side.
Dental and DNA samples being used to identify victims, says official
Reuters has shared some more on the difficulties facing those tasked with identifying victims of the fire.
Swiss authorities have warned that naming the victims or establishing a definitive death toll would take time because many of the bodies were badly burned.
“All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100 percent sure,” said Mathias Reynard, head of government of the canton of Valais. Experts were using dental and DNA samples to identify the victims, he said.
Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland Gian Lorenzo Cornado has said that all bar five of the 112 injured have been identified now, reports Reuters. Swiss officials are yet to give an update on this and have not shared the names of any victims or injured.
Six Italians are still missing and 13 hospitalised, he added. Three Italians were repatriated on Thursday and three more will follow on Friday, he said.
Angela Giuffrida
A collective grief can be felt in Crans-Montana, writes Angela Giuffrida who is reporting for the Guardian from the Swiss ski resort today:
“I’m still trying to digest it,” said Jacques, who was born in Crans, as he drank coffee with his friend in a bar.
It’s the grief, as if we have all lost a loved one.
Also, a taxi driver in Sion told me last night that he made several trips up to Crans on Wednesday night, transporting “many teenage partygoers”.
“It’s too sad to even talk about,” he said.
Tusk confirms Poland ready to provide specialised medical care for 14 injured nationals
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said that 14 Poles were injured in the Crans-Montana fire.
In a social media post this morning, Tusk shared his condolences with the families and the loved ones of the victims and said Poland was ready, at Switzerland’s request, to provide specialised medical care for the 14 injured in Polish hospitals.
Additionally, the French foreign ministry has been cited as reporting that nine of its citizens were injured in the fire and eight are still missing.
Italian foreign ministry say 19 nationals involved in fire as Italian FM visits Crans-Montana
Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani is in Crans-Montana to “visit the families of Italian citizens involved in the tragic New Year’s Eve fire, which caused dozens of deaths and injuries”.
The Italian foreign ministry gave the update in a social media post on Friday morning, adding that Tajani would also “convey the Italian government’s solidarity” to the Italian embassy in Switzerland.
According to another update on television, the Italian foreign ministry said that of the 19 Italians now known to have been involved in the disaster, three patients had been transferred to Niguarda hospital in Lombardy, 10 have been hospitalised elsewhere and six remain missing.
Here is an image of Emanuele Galeppini, who was the first victim of the fire to be named (see 9.02am GMT).
In a post on its website, the Italian Golf Federation paid tribute to a “young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values”. While numerous news outlets have shared this news, officials are yet to confirm the names of any victims.
Reuters reports that the 16-year-old Italian international golfer who lived in Dubai, named on Friday as the first of several possible victims from Italy to be identified, had been in Crans-Montana with his family.
The news agency, citing Italian media, reported that he had gone to Le Constellation bar with two friends, who managed to escape the fire and were taken to nearby hospitals.
Angela Giuffrida
Crans-Montana is popular with international visitors, especially French and Italian, but it is also home to about 11,000 residents.
The Guardian’s Angela Giuffrida has shared this report from Crans-Montana this morning:
Early morning skiers took the slopes and joggers did circuits around the frozen lake on Friday as the local community in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana mourn the deaths of about 40 people killed when a fire ripped through a crowded bar as they celebrated the new year.
The mound of floral tributes outside Le Constellation bar continues to grow as
Swiss investigators race to identify the victims, a process that could take days owing to the burns sustained.
“Rest in peace among the stars,” one of the messages read.
What we know so far
Here is a roundup of everything we know so far about the fire that ripped through the crowded Le Constellation bar in the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana:
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A fire that tore through a crowded bar at a New Year’s Eve party in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana has killed about 40 people and injured 115.
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The fire broke out at 1.30am on Thursday in the town’s Le Constellation bar, but it’s not yet clear what set off the blaze. Some witnesses said it started after sparklers or flares were put into champagne bottles.
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Two women told the French broadcaster BFMTV they had been inside when they saw a bartender carrying a female member of staff on his shoulders. She was holding a lit birthday candle on top of a bottle that set fire to the wooden ceiling. The flames spread quickly and caused the ceiling to collapse, they said. The canton’s chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said she could not comment on reports that lighted candles had caused the inferno.
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Swiss president Guy Parmelin has said the country will hold five days of mourning, describing the blaze as one of the most traumatic events in Switzerland’s history.
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Parmelin – speaking in his first day in the job as Switzerland’s new head of state – said some of those who survived were “severely injured”. They had suffered serious burns, as well as damage to their lungs.
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The first victim has been named as a talented young Italian golfer, Emanuele Galeppini. In a post on its website, the Italian Golf Federation paid tribute to a “young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values”. While numerous news outlets have shared this news, officials are yet to confirm the names of any victims.
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Swiss police warned it could take days or even weeks to identify everyone who died in the disaster. The exact number of people who were at the bar when it went up in flames remains unclear, and police have not specified how many are still missing.
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The injured were dispatched to hospitals in Sion, Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich, and others transported to neighbouring countries. The European Union said it has been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance, while the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said some of the injured were being cared for in French hospitals.
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Italy’s foreign ministry said 16 of its nationals were missing and 12 were among the injured. France said eight of its citizens were missing and it could not rule out that French nationals were among the dead. One Australian was among the injured.
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Hundreds gathered in silence in the freezing cold on Thursday evening, laying flowers and lighting candles. Many at the night-time vigil knew people who remain unaccounted for, or were badly injured.
Video apparently shows efforts to extinguish ceiling fire
A video that appears to show an attempt at putting out fire spreading on the ceiling of Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana can be viewed below:
Hundreds of mourners gathered in silence in the freezing night in Crans-Montana on Thursday evening, laying flowers and lighting candles to remember those killed in a blaze as they celebrated the new year.
Our picture desk has created this gallery with some of the photographs of those paying tribute:
First victim of fire named
The first victim of a fire that tore through a crowded bar in Switzerland has been named as a talented young Italian golfer, Emanuele Galeppini.
In a post on its website, the Italian Golf Federation paid tribute to a “young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values”. While numerous news outlets have shared this news, officials are yet to confirm the names of any victims.
Investigators were on Friday beginning the process to identify victims of the fire that ripped through a bar in the Swiss Alps town of Crans-Montana, turning a New Year’s celebration into one of the country’s worst tragedies.
It is not yet clear what set off the blaze at Le Constellation, killing about 40 people and injuring about 115 others, many seriously – but bystanders described scenes of panic and chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.
Swiss police have warned it could take days or even weeks to identify everyone who died, leaving an agonising wait for family and friends.
Authorities have declined to speculate on what caused the tragedy, saying only that it was not an attack.
