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 a bar called Le Constellation, popular with tourists, as revellers rang in the new year. Witnesses described a bartender carrying a female staff member holding a lit candle in a champagne bottle that set fire to a wooden ceiling, causing it to collapse.
Panicked partygoers broke windows to escape, and some were trapped in a basement nightclub accessed by narrow stairs. Police have ruled out arson and are investigating the cause, including the possibility of spilled charcoal from shisha pipes.
Patients have been taken to hospitals in Sion, Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich. Authorities are working to identify victims and return bodies to families. The prosecutor said there is no indication of an attack.
