About 40 people are believed to have been killed and 115 injured after a fire tore through a crowded bar during a New Year's Eve party in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana. Swiss police confirmed several dozen partygoers were dead, with the blaze thought to be accidental.
The fire started at about 1.30am local time in Le Constellation, a bar popular with tourists, as revellers rang in the new year. Witnesses reported seeing a bartender carrying a female staff member who held a lit candle in a champagne bottle, which set fire to a wooden ceiling. The flames quickly spread and caused the ceiling to collapse.
Panicked partygoers broke windows to escape, and a crowd surge occurred as people tried to flee from a basement nightclub up a narrow staircase. One witness likened the scene to a horror movie. The morning after, mourners left flowers outside the bar, which was surrounded by police tents.
Police commander Frédéric Gisler said: 'I can't hide from you that we are all shaken by what happened overnight in Crans.' Prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud confirmed that arson was not suspected, and a full investigation has been opened. Victims were taken to hospitals in Sion, Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich.
