{"id":59072,"date":"2026-05-02T13:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T13:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/59072\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T13:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T13:54:11","slug":"revelers-at-swiss-alpine-bar-describe-horror-and-panic-when-a-fire-broke-out-leaving-about-40-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/59072\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelers at Swiss Alpine bar describe horror and panic when a fire broke out, leaving about 40 dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Swiss<\/p>\n

Swiss investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a ski resort when they came too close to a crowded bar’s ceiling.<\/p>\n

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland \u2014 Swiss investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a ski resort when they came too close to a crowded bar\u2019s ceiling.<\/p>\n

Forty people were killed and another 119 injured in the blaze as it\u00a0ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar<\/a>\u00a0at the ski resort of Crans-Montana while revelers were celebrating New Year\u2019s Eve, authorities said.<\/p>\n

\"Swiss<\/p>\n

Swiss investigators believe Champagne flares caused a fatal New Year\u2019s Eve bar fire in Crans-Montana. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"Teenager<\/p>\n

Teenager Axel Clavier escaped the inferno that killed 40 and injured 119 revelers. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Among the crowd was Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, who said he felt as if he was suffocating inside the\u00a0Swiss Alpine bar\u00a0<\/a>where moments before he had been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of other people.<\/p>\n

The teenager escaped the inferno, which broke out early Thursday, by forcing a window open with a table. But about 40 other partygoers died, including one of Clavier\u2019s friends, falling victim to\u00a0one of the worst tragedies<\/a>\u00a0in Switzerland\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Many of the wounded were in their teens to mid-20s, police said.<\/p>\n

Clavier told The Associated Press that two or three of his friends remained missing hours after the disaster.<\/p>\n

Late Thursday, mourners left candles and flowers in an\u00a0impromptu memorial\u00a0<\/a>near the bar. Hundreds of others prayed for the victims at the nearby Church of Montana-Station.<\/p>\n

Pope Leo sent a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion to express condolences and pray that \u201cthe Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DNA<\/p>\n

DNA samples are needed to identify victims due to severe burns, causing agony for families. X\/SuisseAlert<\/p>\n

On Instagram, an account filled up with photos of people who remained unaccounted for, with their friends and relatives begging for tips about the whereabouts of the missing.<\/p>\n

Fire\u2019s cause remains under investigation<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say, of very strong solidarity in the moment,\u201d Valais regional government head Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. He lauded the work of emergency officials on the day after the fire but added \u201cin the first minutes it was citizens \u2014 and\u00a0in large part young people\u00a0\u2014 who saved lives with their courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

An evening of celebration turns tragic<\/p>\n

Clavier, the Parisian teenager, said he didn\u2019t see the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles with burning sparklers.<\/p>\n

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\"13<\/p>\n

13 Italian citizens were injured and six remained missing by midday Friday. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door.<\/p>\n

Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside.<\/p>\n

Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation, rushed to the bar to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen horror and I don\u2019t know what else would be worse than this,\u201d Campolo told TF1.<\/p>\n

The severity of the burns has made it very difficult to identify bodies, bringing fresh agony for families who now must hand over DNA samples to authorities. In some cases, wallets and any ID documents inside turned to ash in the flames.<\/p>\n

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, is officially listed as one of Italy\u2019s missing nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/p>\n

Another witness described people smashing windows to escape the blaze. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"Authorities<\/p>\n

Authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid accidents. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said 13 Italian citizens were injured and six remained missing by midday Friday. Galeppini\u2019s name was on the missing persons list.<\/p>\n

Resort town sits in the heart of the Alps<\/p>\n

In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid accidents that could further strain the area\u2019s already overwhelmed medical resources.<\/p>\n

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region\u2019s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit. The resort will host the best men\u2019s and women\u2019s downhill racers, including\u00a0Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the\u00a0Milan-Cortina Olympics\u00a0in February. The town\u2019s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swiss investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28493,28398,3645,17198,3935,4441,41,18269,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-59072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-axel-clavier","9":"tag-champagne-bottles","10":"tag-crans-montana","11":"tag-fatal-fire","12":"tag-getty-images","13":"tag-ski-resort","14":"tag-swiss","15":"tag-swiss-investigators","16":"tag-switzerland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116505324000773648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}