Sparklers placed on top of bottles of champagne appear to have been the source of a fire that tore through a crowded bar in southern Switzerland on New Year’s Day, killing 40 people and injuring 119, a local official said.
Beatrice Pilloud, attorney general of the Swiss canton of Valais, told a news conference Friday that the blaze spread quickly after the sparklers came close to the ceiling of the Constellation bar at the Crans-Montana mountain resort in the early hours of Thursday. Investigators have analyzed footage of the incident and spoken to the bar’s managers as well as survivors, Pilloud said.
Valais police commander Frédéric Gisler said 113 of the 119 injured had been formally identified, including 71 from Switzerland, 14 from France, 11 Italians and four Serbs. The formal identification of the 40 dead is continuing, he added.
The public prosecutor’s office in Valais has opened a criminal investigation, authorities said previously.
It was not yet clear how many people were inside the bar when the fire broke out. The Constellation has a capacity of 300 people with a terrace that holds 40, according to the resort’s tourism agency. Many of the victims were young people celebrating the new year, according to local police, who said identifying them could take days or even weeks.
In most of Switzerland, young people are able to buy beer or wine from the age of 16, though the sale of spirits is banned for those under 18.
“I’ve been looking for my son everywhere for more than 30 hours,” a woman identified only by her first name, Laetitia, told France’s BFMTV of her search for her 16-year-old son, Arthur. He was celebrating the new year with his school friends, she said.
The Crans-Montana is popular for skiing, gourmet restaurants and nightlife. The Alpine destination offers views of the Matterhorn, one of the world’s most photographed mountains, and Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. The resort was acquired in 2024 by the U.S.-based Vail Resorts, though that does not include the bar, according to Swiss business records.
Local authorities said in a statement Thursday that the fire resulted in a flashover — an event the National Fire Protection Association describes as “the sudden, simultaneous ignition of everything in a room” in which temperatures can soar to as much as 1,000 degrees in a few seconds. Initial findings suggested the flashover led to at least one explosion, according to the canton’s statement.
The area around the bar, on the ski town’s central street, was closed down and a no-fly zone was instituted. During the night, care centers were set up to support the injured and the victims’ families.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin told Le Temps newspaper that many foreign nationals were present in the bar. He said he would not speculate ahead of the investigation’s findings but vowed consequences for anyone found to be responsible.
In a Thursday news conference, he described the fire as among the worst tragedies in the country’s history.
Many of the injured suffered severe and significant burns, Valais officials said. Stéphane Ganzer, head of the canton’s security department, told French radio RTL on Friday that “between 80 and 100” of the injured are in a critical condition.
Tahirys Dos Santos, a 19-year-old youth player for the FC Metz French association soccer club, was severely burned in the fire and airlifted to Germany for treatment, his club confirmed Thursday. His agent told BFMTV on Friday that Dos Santos had burns on 30 percent of his body.
One Australian was also among the injured, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement to The Washington Post.
About 60 people were treated at Valais Hospital across several sites and about 60 were transferred to other hospitals, including the only two Swiss centers that specialize in the treatment of severe burns with more than 20 percent of body surface area affected, Lausanne University Hospital and the University Hospital of Zurich, the Valais State Council said in a news release.
Swiss authorities were coordinating with neighboring countries to facilitate medical care, the council added. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the burns center at Niguarda Hospital, in Milan, had been made available to treat victims. France has reserved 19 hospital beds for burn victims, Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said Thursday.
Bart Schaneman, Jennifer Hassan, Maham Javaid and Kate Brady contributed to this report.
correctionA previous version of this article incorrectly said Vail Resorts acquired the Crans-Montana resort in 2023. The acquisition was completed in 2024.
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