Flares on champagne bottles fueled deadly Swiss bar fire: officials – National

Swiss investigators believe flares atop Champagne bottles sparked a fire in a bar at an alpine ski resort which left 40 people dead and 119 others injured during a New Year’s celebration.

Most of the injuries, many serious, occurred when the fire swept through a crowded bar less than two hours after midnight Thursday in southwest Switzerland.

Authorities believe the candles, which give off an upward stream of sparks, started the fire when they got too close to the bar’s ceiling. Officials planned to check whether the ceiling material designed to muffle sound complied with regulations.

The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf site. Overnight, his packed bar, Le Constellation, went from a scene of rejoicing to the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.

Here’s what we know about the deadly fire:

The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday during an end-of-year party inside the Le Constellation bar.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside when they saw a bartender lifting a female bartender onto his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the television station.

People frantically tried to escape from the basement nightclub down a narrow staircase and through a narrow door, causing a surge of crowds, one of the women said.

A young man at the scene said people had broken windows to escape the fire, some seriously injured, BFMTV reported. He said he saw about 20 people rushing to get out of the smoke and flames.

Gianni Campolo, a 19-year-old Swiss man on vacation in Crans-Montana, rushed to the bar to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno.

“As we get closer, we see people almost dismembered, lying on the ground, in cardiac arrest. People were also trapped inside, lying on the ground. We saw their clothes melting on their skin,” Campolo told TF1. “I’ve seen horrors and I don’t know what else could be worse than this.”

Investigators will look into whether the use of sparklers was permitted in the bar. They will also examine security measures in the premises, in particular fire extinguishers, emergency exits and compliance with regulations, the attorney general of the canton of Valais, Béatrice Pilloud, said on Friday.

She also warned of possible prosecution in cases of criminal liability involving individuals.

“If this is indeed the case and these individuals are still alive, an investigation will be opened against them for negligent arson, negligent homicide and negligent battery,” Pilloud said.

Swiss authorities described the fire as a probable flashover, meaning it triggered the release of combustible gases which could then ignite violently.

The injured suffered from severe burns and smoke inhalation. Some were flown to specialist hospitals across the country and elsewhere in Europe.

Of the 119 injured, 113 have now been identified, officials said Friday.

Among the injured are 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, as well as nationals from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, the commander of the Valais cantonal police, Frédéric Gisler, said on Friday. The nationalities of 14 people remain unclear.

The severity of the burns makes it very difficult to identify the bodies, bringing new agony to families who must now hand over DNA samples to the authorities. In some cases, wallets and the identity documents they contained turned to ashes in the flames.

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, is officially listed as one of the missing Italian nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting DNA checks, although the Italian Golf Federation announced his death on its website.

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French top-flight soccer team FC Metz said one of its trainee players, Tahirys Dos Santos, 19, suffered serious burns and was flown to Germany for treatment.

On Instagram, an account filled with photos of missing people, with their friends and loved ones pleading for advice on the fate of the missing.

A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson confirmed the department was not aware of any Canadian citizens affected by the fire in a statement to Global News.

The neighboring regional hospital of Sion welcomed a flood of victims fire. Its general manager, Éric Bonvin, recounted how staff rushed to determine the extent of people’s injuries.

The hospital, located in the heart of the Alps and accustomed to winter sports-related accidents, was adequately staffed for the end of the year, when crowds flock to the mountains. In addition, many colleagues who were not scheduled for work rushed to lend a hand.

Yet the hospital, located about 10 kilometers from the station by air, quickly reached capacity, authorities said, receiving dozens of seriously injured people in just three hours.

By Friday afternoon, most had been transferred to other hospitals, with medical evacuation flights departing from Sion airport, while others had been discharged, Bonvin said.

With high-altitude ski slopes reaching around 3,000 meters in the heart of the snow-capped peaks and pine forests of Valais, Crans-Montana is one of the highlights of the World Cup circuit.

The station will host the best men’s and women’s downhill runners, including Lindsey Vonnfor their last events before the Olympic Games in Milan Cortina in February.

The Crans-sur-Sierre golf club, down the street from the bar, hosts the European Masters every August on a picturesque course.

—Additional files from Global News