Swiss investigators believe sparklers stuffed into champagne bottles started the fire that killed 40 people in a ski bar on New Year’s Eve.
More than 100 people were also injured, most seriously, in the blaze at the Le Constellation bar in the upmarket Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana, in the region of Valais.
Speaking to the press in Sion on Friday, authorities revealed they believed but had not established for sure that the fire was started when sparklers in the tops of bottles of alcohol caught and ignited the ceiling.
The hypothesis matches with a growing body of footage circulating online, believed to be from the scene, that appears to show the ceiling on fire.
The Guardian reported that Valais attorney general Beatrice Pilloud said, “Everything leads us to believe that the fire was started from sparkling candles or sparklers that were put on bottles of champagne that were moved too close to the ceiling.”
#Internacional | 😨🇨🇭 En #RRSS circula un material audiovisual escalofriante del incendio mortal que se suscitó en Crans-Montana, en Suiza el #1Ene. En el video se aprecia como el techo del bar Le Constellation comenzó a arder. Confirman que ascendió la cifra de fallecidos a 47. pic.twitter.com/s5XEdcPqWU
— Notitarde (@webnotitarde) January 2, 2026
“From that a blaze began very quickly… There are videos that have been analyzed; there are several people who have been interviewed and reports have been made.”
The officials said that work was underway to identify the victims as quickly as possible, but amid the chaos and misery, tales of heroism are starting to emerge.
Speaking to RTS Radio on Friday, Valais regional government head Mathias Reynard said, “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say, of very strong solidarity in the moment… in the first minutes it was citizens—and in large part young people—who saved lives with their courage.”
Among them is Ferdinand Du Beaudiez, 19, who told the Sun, “I saw someone order these champagne bottles and I saw the waitresses take the bottles on their shoulders…I saw the roof take fire and I went under the bar.
“I found some water in the mini fridge. At the moment I took the water, but the fire already spread on the whole roof. I threw some water, but it didn’t help anything.
“I went back down, I took my girlfriend’s arm and I screamed to everyone ‘get out.’ I took my girlfriend as hard as I could up the stairs. There were so many people in the stairs that I lost her arm.
“I fell on the ground. I could reach the top of the stairs and I fell on my stomach.” Suffering burns on the back of his neck, he said he managed to get out before he headed back in.
“I went back inside. I found someone, I suppose, I hope he was just unconscious. But my prayers are that he’s still alive. I grabbed him in the stairs and I took him out.
“Firemen, policemen, firemen took him. And I still couldn’t find anyone. I went back inside but I couldn’t breathe anymore.
“There was too much smoke and I couldn’t breathe. So I went back out. I found a friend of mine who was really burned. He asked me, where is your girlfriend? My girlfriend started rushing around. I found my girlfriend completely in shock.
“She was completely shocked. She told me my brother and his friends were near the bank over there. So I took both of them and joined my brother and his friends. They were all in shock, all very severely burned.
“It was terrifying. It felt like a war scene. I saw people, burned people on the ground.”
Officials noted they are now also working to determine how such an incident occurred.
Pilloud said, “The next steps of the investigation will focus in particular on the work carried out inside the bar, the materials utilised, the operating permits, the safety measures. By which I mean extinguishers, emergency exits and the resources to fight fires… the number of people on the site and the number of people the bar is permitted to receive.”
“The people who have been interviewed, they are not interviewed under caution.
“If there is a flight risk, it is possible for us to take the necessary measures, but for the moment no criminal liability has been determined.”
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