A heroic father and banker saved ten young people from a deadly New Year's Eve fire at a Swiss ski resort nightclub after his teenage daughter called him pleading for help.
A Father's Desperate Race to the Flames
Paolo Campolo, a 55-year-old Swiss-Italian financial analyst, was at his home in Crans-Montana when he received a frantic call from his distraught daughter. She was outside the popular Le Constellation bar, waiting to enter, but her boyfriend and friends were trapped inside as a devastating blaze erupted.
Mr Campolo raced the 50 yards to the scene. With the main entrance completely blocked by a crush of panicked revellers trying to escape, he spotted a side door. Working with another man, he forced it open, allowing a stream of terrified young people to spill out into the safety of the night.
The inferno ultimately claimed at least 40 lives and left 119 people injured, 80 of them critically. The bar was packed with teenagers and young adults celebrating the start of the new year when the fire, believed to have been sparked by candles on champagne bottles, ripped through the basement in seconds.
The Harrowing Scene Inside
Speaking from a hospital bed in Sion where he is being treated for smoke inhalation, Mr Campolo described the traumatic scene he confronted.
"There were several bodies all around. Alive but burnt. Some conscious, others not," he told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. "They were begging for help in several languages. They were very young."
He recalled pulling injured youths out with his bare hands, one after the other. When asked what he remembered most, he spoke of "the lucid desperation of those who know they're dying. Burned people looking at you and asking you not to leave them there. It's something that never goes away."
His own daughter had a miraculous escape; she would have been inside had she not stopped at home to toast the New Year with her parents first. She was unharmed, but her boyfriend is now fighting for his life in a Basel hospital.
Investigation Points to Sparklers and Safety Questions
Swiss authorities have identified sparkling candles atop champagne bottles as the most likely cause of the fast-moving fire. Video footage from inside the club shows a waitress waving a lit sparkler beneath foam soundproofing panels on the ceiling moments before the blaze took hold.
Beatrice Pilloud, the attorney general for the Valais region, confirmed the investigation is examining the ceiling materials, emergency exits, fire extinguishers, and whether the bar was over capacity. She warned that prosecutions for negligent homicide are possible.
The French owners of Le Constellation, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, broke their silence on Friday, stating they can neither "sleep nor eat." Mr Moretti defended the bar's safety, claiming it had been inspected three times in the past decade and "everything had been done according to regulation."
Among the many victims is 15-year-old Charlotte Niddam, a former pupil of Immanuel College in Hertfordshire and the Jewish Free School in north London, who is now missing. Her schoolfriends have posted heartfelt tributes online as her family awaits news.
Officials have said identifying all the victims will take days due to the severity of their burns. The nationalities of the injured and deceased include Swiss, French, Italian, British, and several other European nationals, highlighting the international nature of the popular Alpine resort.
