According to the currently available information their were more than 100 people inside at the time of the explosion, The nouvelliste claims that "around 40 are dead" and at least 100 injured. Many hospitals in the area have been activated to treat burn victims.



—
Aure20

49 comments

  1. 40 dead?! Oh my god that is horrific. What an awful start to the new year.

  2. That’s awful. You feel so safe that you can’t think that this might happen here. Simply devastating. I can only imagine the pain of the parents of the victims. You see your child go out to have fun without worries and now they are dead.

  3. The last time I saw the news it was 10 and now it’s around 40 fatalities? Damn awful..

  4. Reminder of the authorities: if you’re out and about in Valais today, be extra careful as the intensive care unit is at capacity already.

  5. Deeply sorry for all the loses, I live in Wallis and this tragedy reminds me of Colectiv 2015 tragedy in Romania , where indoor flame spectacle was performed…after that all indoor fire sources were banded for good. Can’t believe this happened 😢😢😢

  6. That’s so sad, I just woke up and learnt about this tragedy. I’m so chocked, I have no words…
    God bless the victims and their families.

  7. According to a witness from the scene, the fire was supposedly started when a woman, carrying a champagne bottle with a sparkling candle on top, lifted it too high to the ceiling while being carried on another person’s shoulders.

    She was getting ready to shake and spray the bottle, when the candle lit up the ceiling.
    From there, the fire spread rapidly.

    The witness was able to exit the underground facility and alert the bouncers, who then went in to attempt to put out the flames.

    [source (in French)](https://www.bfmtv.com/international/europe/suisse/direct-explosion-a-crans-montana-plusieurs-morts-et-blesses-dans-le-bar-d-une-station-de-ski-suisse-les-secours-sur-place_LN-202601010232.html#article_457723)

    EDIT:
    Multiple videos and pictures from the scene now confirm that is exactly what happened.

    [picture 1](https://x.com/amefrancaisefr/status/2006820168094330990?s=46)

    [picture 2](https://x.com/babiensuroui/status/2006821770599477335?s=46)

    Video from the start of the fire
    [video](https://x.com/trump_fact_news/status/2006849324953596283?s=46)

  8. R.I.P.
    Was in Cran for the New Year. We went there but the bouncers didn’t let us in.
    As someone who used to go out in Cran-Montana a lot, this bar was famous for letting underage people in and not checking IDs. Because of that, it became very popular for very young locals but less tourists. Also, it has a single entrance / exit which is very narrow and a single staircase going down (where the fire started)
    We’re now calling all our friends. Praying for everyone affected by this tragedy.

  10. Rest in peace to the victims and their families.

    A bartender carried a barmaid over his shoulder while holding a sparkling candle and a champagne bottle. The candle ignited the insulation foam. Smoke spread, and as people tried to escape on a narrow exit, the fire took in less than a minute until the ceiling collapsed, then explosion…

    Start of the fire:

    https://x.com/Inst_Actu/status/2006709498925428795

    Bar le constellation:

    https://www.tripadvisor.fr/Restaurant_Review-g198810-d10030126-Reviews-Le_Constellation-Crans_Montana_Canton_of_Valais_Swiss_Alps.html

    Témoignage

    https://twitter.com/i/status/2006669301810397458

    It already happened in 2003 in a club at Rhodes island. Similar accident:

    https://youtube.com/shorts/SNewX7HwfZE?si=iV_h_2nPmyr7wtJT

    Hope we can learn something from that tragedy.

  11. Im scottish but lived in Switzerland for years, this news has broken my heart. Absolutely horrifying stuff

  12. This was in the comments of another post that was deleted by mods, I didn’t want this perspective to be lost:

    [Sohail722](https://www.reddit.com/user/Sohail722/) • [4h ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/comments/1q0xzr1/comment/nx1x74l/)

    “Hello there, I’m currently in Crans myself and we were out with friends for New Year’s Eve. We were going to another spot than the bar that had the incident approximately 150 m away. We’ve hear a massive boom and thought that it was a big fireworks explosion but man was it loud. The place we were going was full and we decide to go back to another place. While doing this we passed in front of the constellation bar. A old lady came screaming talking about huge flames. We then saw dozens of youngster screaming for help, severely burned, desperate. 2 police cars came in 5 minutes and a fire truck also came but as it’s in the mountains first respond wasn’t ready for such an event. I ran into some injured people to lift them to a safe spot that the police designated. Kids were losing skin shreds and lost all the hair screaming of pain while in the cold cause all there clothes were burnt. Nobody was. I’m so so sad right now. Be safe everybody.”

  13. “There were waitresses carrying champagne bottles with sparklers on them, and they carried them close to the ceiling, which caused it to catch fire,” one witness said.

    “One waitress was standing on another waiter’s shoulders, and the bottle and the flames were just a few centimeters away from the ceiling,” the other added.”

    “Once the ceiling was on fire, within about ten seconds the entire nightclub was on fire,” the first witness said. “We all ran out screaming and when we turned back, there were flames.”

    damn…..so tragic….sorry for those who were affected

    edit: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OCgRHRpe6OA – illustration of that sparkles used by the bar/place

  14. unfortunately the death toll will double in the next weeks, burnt victims are very complicated to treat 🙁 in 2015 during Colectiv incident in Romania, 27 people died that night, and another 38 in the next weeks 🙁 I hope that CH has better burnt hospital units than Romania 🙁

  15. Friend’s daughter lost school mates, I’m gutted. What a disaster :/

  16. The ceiling foam looks very flammable. Horrible what the club owner did there!!

  17. – There’s [this video](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OCgRHRpe6OA) (SFW / **not** from last night) going around that apparently seems to show the usage of fireworks attached to bottles in the concerned bar.

    – Also, the building was built in the period 1961-1970 according to the national building register (GWR).

  18. You can see the exit 200 people had to escape through..
    https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0c/5e/c0/36/le-constellation.jpg

    One exit for 200 people. According to swiss regulations: Maximum number of people in the room & Minimum number of exits & width

    Up to approx. 50 people
    → 1 exit with a minimum width of 0.9 m

    Up to approx. 100 people
    → 2 exits, each with a minimum width of 0.9 m

    Up to approx. 200 people
    → 3 exits (each at least 0.9 m wide)
    or
    → 2 exits (0.9 m + 1.2 m)

    More than 200 people
    → Multiple exits, each with a minimum width of 1.2 m

    The Club owners were clearly shitting on the safety of their customers.

  19. Video from inside of the fire starting…

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/s/369eAu9aUG

    Also this showing champagne bottle sparklers being used profusely inside the venue

    https://youtube.com/shorts/OCgRHRpe6OA

    (I’m not a karma farmer, I was a bouncer for many years and this is to highlight the issue of health and safety regulations, I always made sure the nightclubs I worked at were safe as could be even to the point of rearranging furniture because of my fears, condolences to all of those affected in this situation.)

  20. This is such a dark day for Switzerland, so many young people dead, the panic must have been awful, trying to escape that basement bar with just a narrow staircase there to get out

  21. As someone working in a hospitals bloodbank: We were already a bit on edge with the amount of platelets we had over the last few days since there were few donations due to the holidays. Now this only makes that situation worse. Burn victims (obviously depending on severity) do typically require quite a few transfusions throughout their hospital stay.

    And just check this current “Blood barometer” from the SRK: [https://www.ichspendeblut.ch/de/blutvorrat](https://www.ichspendeblut.ch/de/blutvorrat) it is sadly almost always like this with multiple bloodtypes in “critically low” supply.

    What I want to say with this: If youre in switzerland (or anywhere in the world, because it is ALWAYS needed) please check in with your local donor service and consider donating.

  22. Just saw this from [rts.ch](http://rts.ch)

    >“Between twelve and fifteen” Italians were hospitalized following a fire in a bar in Crans-Montana (VS), Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced on Thursday. The same number are missing, he added.

    >The minister intends to visit the scene of the tragedy “tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” “if it doesn’t cause any problems,” to be close to his fellow citizens, he added on Italian channel Rete 4.

    >Antonio Tajani also announced that the Niguarda burn center in the suburbs of Milan will take in three people with severe burns from Switzerland. “Helicopters will take off from Lombardy to pick them up” in order to relieve the Swiss hospitals.

    >“We don’t know if the injured who will arrive are Italian,” he added, stressing that this is a gesture of solidarity in the face of this tragedy “of enormous proportions.” “We have reached 47 deaths, it’s a horrible situation,” he said.

    47 deaths already… I seriously hope that things will change regarding regulations.

  23. 10 years after this tragedy in Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colectiv_nightclub_fire , we have a similar new one, in Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Crans-Montana_fire

    In Romania, there were massive protests after Colectiv fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Romanian_protests , and they also made a documentary after a journalistic investigation https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10706602/

    Meanwhile, in Romania the fireworks have been banned almost totally if they are not handled by professionals.

    It seems we never learn from others:
    – 2003 TheStation nightclub (USA) fire https://www.reddit.com/r/TerrifyingAsFuck/s/Gjhw6H9Xxx
    – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nightclub_fires

  24. Exactly 25 years after the deadly cafe fire in Volendam in the Netherlands. The impact of 14 deadly victims and over 200 casualties on a tight knit community in a small town was massive. All young people too… A firework spark had ignited Christmas decorations hanging from the ceiling and resulted in a flashover. It all sounds similar and both events could have been prevented with proper precautions…

  26. This is so heartbreaking. I hope this tragedy becomes a catalyst for government intervention in ensuring safety standards are followed.

    Also a stark reminder of the danger of indoor fires. Hard to explain why indoor fires are still permitted anywhere in the world.

  28. Time to make a nation-wide audit of fire exits and fine offenders. Clubs, restaurants, gyms, everything. Way too many owners are careless about this stuff.

  29. What a tragedy. Truly awful. It is still so early in the investigation but I hope whatever lessons can be learned will be. Sadly, safety rules are often born out of events like this, and the only justice for the victims might be that people take fire safety more seriously and prevent future disasters.

    In the meantime, if you are reading this, please think about fire safety where you live and work. If you don’t have one in your apartment, buy a battery powered smoke detector. If your workplace has never had a fire drill or training, please be the one who speaks up.

  30. Reminder to everybody who would like to show their support: donate blood!

  33. So incredibly sickening to see this. In my native country, an identical incident happened last March, with identical sparkles igniting the insulation of a nightclub with a single exit. I can’t even comprehend how this just keeps happening, to think how many young people’s lives are lost or severely damaged physically and mentally is just so terrible. Hoping that the hospitals can cope and helping the injured people and the death toll wouldn’t keep increasing…

  34. This is a remember for everyone, every safety rule and regulation is written in blood.

  36. I really want to know who inspected this facility and when. and when were those insulations made. How did they get a license with such narrow exit? Why were there no sprinklers? And where is the bar owner right now.

  37. I’ve just seen some videos of the early spread of the fire. So many people did not realise what was going to happen, they were not running away and taking videos instead. I also wonder if I would have ran away immediately…it all happened so quickly. Damn.

  38. Just want to add a little comment (which probably will get lost in the sea) but if people wish to provide help or offer help to Crans-Montana, if you are doing so through socials make sure you are on CRANS-MONTANA and not CRANS socials. My village in Vaud is named Crans and we’ve seen quite a substantial amount of people reach out through the Facebook group for the village, thinking it was Crans-Montana 🙏🙏

  39. It’s always acoustic foam. So many instances of this happening throughout history in so many different countries. This shit should be illegal. RIP

  40. The owners are so screwed. There was also minors in the bar.

    And regarding the requirement, for an temporary event, like a new year’s eve party, the law states that you need:

    50 people – 1x 0.9m exit
    50 to 100 people – 2x 0.9m exit each
    100 to 200 people – 3x 0.9m exit each or 2x exit, 1x 0.9m and 1x 1.2m
    200 and above – multiple 1.2m exits.

    With the current victim counts we were clearly above 150 people with one 1.2m exit.

    You need to differentiate the requirements during normal operating times and during temporary events. Which are not the same.

  42. Looking at all the published videos, I can’t comprehend what happened after the ceiling foam ignited from the champagne firework. It appears there was virtually no coordination from the staff to get those young people out of what became a deadly trap.

    [One video](https://x.com/SuisseAlert/status/2006749898881085577) shows that some guests were not even trying to leave the basement, despite the fire growing larger every second – and despite the fact that the stairs were not blocked at that time. What’s more, at the end of this video, there seem to be people still entering the club while the priority should have been to evacuate everyone as quickly as possible.

    There is also [another horrific video](https://x.com/SuisseAlert/status/2006854420311716314) showing that the evacuation could have been carried out much faster through all sides of the “winter garden.” However, side panels were opened by bystanders only after the fire had grown absolutely massive, and by that point people were already trying to escape only through the narrow (about 90 cm wide?) front door.

    I’m furious, because this tragedy could have been avoided if the responsible parties – owners and authorities alike – had simply done their jobs properly. And even after the fire started, some level of coordination could have saved so many lives.

  43. The almost exact same thing happened in The Netherlands a few years back. They did a reconstruction on national TV to show how fast something like this develops. For those interested, here’s that reconstruction: [https://youtu.be/Denb6dpBlAw](https://youtu.be/Denb6dpBlAw)

    It shows in a very real way what happens when you don’t take fire safety seriously.

  44. Stupidity and ignorance are at play here, but the owners are fully responsible for blocking the terrace exit, installing highly flammable ceiling materials, and providing pyrotechnics for use inside the building.

  45. RIP to all.

    I’m just pissed it looks like all fire safety procedures were completely ignored.
    One exit, no sprinkler system?, highly flammable foam ceiling surface, was there any fire extinguisher?
    Then it looks like the place was overcrowded for the size and number of available exits.

    Looks like a case of profits over safety.

  46. I must admit my French is quite bad, but if I understood the public prosecutor at the press conference correctly, they are now asking the relevant questions and they are thinking as “main theory” that the fire was indeed caused by sparkles that were held against the ceiling’s insulation.

    They have mandated the forensic institute of Zurich with investigations.

    Criminal offences like negligent homicide are on the table.

    The fire protection measures and the used material are investigated.

    EDIT: And now they emphasize how many specialists from other cantons are working on the case. Probably to avoid any speculations that the Canton of Valais could attempt to cover up the whole thing.

    EDIT2: A journalist asked about the foam. The public prosecutor said that at the moment it’s unclear if the type of foam used was legal to use and/or if there was a permit to use it. They are investigating this and ask the public not to speculate about it.

    EDIT3: The cantonal secretary responsible for security adds that inspections in such bars are happening regularly and that there never has been any complaint when the building in question was inspected. He did not say when the last inspection happened. He did say however, that the bar had “enough exits” and that the assumption is that the victims didn’t find the exits… ouff.

    EDIT4: The Blick journalist asks why Féraud (municipality president) isn’t present and why the people responsible for fire inspection haven’t been asked to give statements. The 20min journalist asks if it’s known when the last inspection took place and whether the foam on the ceiling needed a permit or not. The public prosecutor says that she does not know when the last inspection took place and whether a permit is needed for the foam. She also said that Féraud isn’t here because he wasn’t invited and that he was there yesterday.

  47. The coverage of “news” like 20 min and bluenews is really shameful, people working there would kill their own family to sell a clickbait article if it was legal.

    Fucking going to fucking hospitals to fucking interview victims in their bed while they recover. Really the scum of the earth

  49. I went through photos posted on Facebook page called Old Constellation which shows “before” and “after” from the club’s renovation. Other than the isolation foam being installed already during those works back in ~2015, I noticed 2 things:

    **1. They narrowed the stairs to the underground part of the club. Looking at the photos, the reason for this was to hide the ventilation ducts running down.**

    Before:

    * [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/971419492932972/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/971419492932972/)
    * [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/969879706420284/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/969879706420284/)

    After:

    * [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1050868894988031/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1050868894988031/)
    * [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853840756203/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853840756203/) (ventilation ducts can be seen behind the newly-constructed walls on the stairs, which effectively made them much more narrow. )
    * [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853880756199/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853880756199/) (here you can clearly see the before and after width of the stairs)

    They also created some kind of a concrete roof over the stairs, which effectively could have contributed to the chimney-effect during the fire: [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853847422869/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853847422869/), [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853850756202/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1059853850756202/)

    **I wonder if any of those modifications were approved by the authorities, especially in the context of emergency exit and fire protection regulations.**

    **2. There was an additional side exit door on the ground level.** I believe one of the witnesses mentioned that this door was initially closed and that he had to force it open (not entirely sure if he was referring to this door or the side panels of the “winter garden”): [https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1079029965505257/](https://www.facebook.com/OldConstellation/photos/1079029965505257/)

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