One of those at the hospital in Sion, Edoardo Saitta, 25, said he had escaped the bar as soon as he saw smoke, but that his friend was less fortunate — she was being treated at the hospital, where the staff had said she would be transferred to Milan.
Crans-Montana, in southwestern Switzerland, lies about 30 miles as the crow flies from the borders of both Italy and France. With only about 10,000 residents, it has 2,800 hotel rooms and draws about three million visitors a year, according to the ski resort’s website.
It is known for its slopes and views of the Alps, as well as its restaurants, luxury stores and big sporting events; it was scheduled to host men’s and women’s World Cup ski races later this month.
“This tragedy occurred in a place that is naturally associated with life and joy,” said Mr. Parmelin, the president, who postponed a scheduled New Year’s address to travel to the scene.
Nightclubs, bars and concert venues, combining large crowds, limited exits and, sometimes, pyrotechnics, have been the scenes of fatal fires around the world, some of them claiming hundreds of lives. Less than a year ago, a blaze in a nightclub killed 59 people in Macedonia. In the United States, one in Warwick, R.I., killed 100 in 2003. One of the worst gutted the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston in 1942, leaving 492 people dead.
Ségolène Le Stradic reported from Crans-Montana and Sion, Switzerland; Christopher F. Schuetze from Hanover, Germany; Aurelien Breeden from Marseille, France; and Richard Pérez-Peña from New York. Reporting was contributed by John Yoon, Isabella Kwai, Elisabetta Povoledo, and Monika Cvorak.