As night closed in on the main street in Crans-Montana, the only thing out of place was the silence.
In this popular upmarket resort perched in the Swiss Alps, you would expect to hear evening revelry. But on what should have been a night of celebration with bars still fêting the New Year, many doors are shuttered in mourning or respect. Instead, crowds of a different sort gathered quietly in the streets, hundreds coming together in grief.
Police tape and small grottos of candles mark the street where Le Constellation bar is located. Local student Thomas Dias, who had been to the bar many times before, came here with friends to lay flowers this evening.
He was still waiting to hear from two friends who were in the bar last night, which was popular with teenagers and young people, he told CNN.
To those trapped inside, he said, escape would have likely been a “nightmare“, if hundreds had to funnel up the narrow staircase from the basement to the ground floor. It’s “unimaginable,” he said.
By chance, he and his friends had decided to stay outside the bar last night.
“It should’ve been us,” he said.