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CRANS MONTANA: Families endured an agonising wait for news of their loved ones on Friday as Swiss investigators rushed to identify victims of a ski resort fire at a New Year’s celebration that killed 40 people.
Authorities began moving bodies from the burned-out bar in the luxury ski resort town Crans-Montana on Friday morning, with the first silver-coloured hearse rolling into the funeral centre in nearby Sion shortly after 11am (1000 GMT).
Around 115 people were injured in the fire, many of them in critical condition.
As the scope of the tragedy — one of Switzerland’s worst — began to sink in, Crans-Montana appeared enveloped in a stunned silence.
“The atmosphere is heavy,” Dejan Bajic, a 56-year-old tourist from Geneva who has been coming to the resort since 1974, said.
“It’s like a small village; everyone knows someone who knows someone who’s been affected,” he said.
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.
Screaming in pain
Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, said he had seen “bodies lying here, ... covered with a white sheet”, and “young people, totally burned, who were still alive... Screaming in pain”.
The exact death toll could rise, with canton president Mathias Reynard telling a regional newspaper that 80 of the 115 injured were in critical condition. Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, an agonising wait for family and friends.
Condolences poured in from around the world, including from Pope Leo XIV, who offered “compassion and solidarity” to victims’ families.
Desperate appeals
Online, desperate appeals abound to find the missing.
“We’ve tried to reach our friends. We took loads of photos and posted them on Instagram, Facebook, all possible social networks to try to find them,” said Eleonore, 17. “But there’s nothing. No response.”
‘The apocalypse’
The exact number of people who were at the bar when it went up in flames remains unclear.
Le Constellation had a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who took office on Thursday, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions” and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast for five days.
“We thought it was just a small fire, but when we got there, it was war,” Mathys, from a neighbouring village, said.
“That’s the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse.” Authorities have declined to speculate on what caused the tragedy, saying only that it was not an attack.
Several witness accounts, broadcast by various media, pointed to sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a “show” for patrons.
Pictures and videos shared on social media also showed sparklers on champagne bottles held into the air, as an orange glow began spreading across the ceiling.
One video showed the flames advancing quickly as revellers initially continued to dance.
Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2026
