Several dozen people are presumed dead and around 100 injured after a fire ripped through a bar in a ski resort in southern Switzerland, officials have said. The fire broke out at around 01:30 (00:30 GMT) during new year celebrations in a bar called Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, police said. People from multiple countries have been affected, according to Swiss authorities, and significant work will be needed to identify victims and return bodies to families.
Officials investigating the incident have not mentioned any cause, but categorically ruled out an attack. Ten helicopters, 40 ambulances and 150 emergency responders were sent overnight to the scene of the fire in the Valais region, which is popular with tourists. Most of the injured experienced severe burns and were sent to Valais hospital, said Mathias Reynard, the region's council leader, in a press conference on Thursday morning.
Details are still emerging, and it is not yet known the precise number of people who have been killed and injured, their nationalities, the cause of the fire or how many people were in the bar. Officials have, however, confirmed that several nationalities were involved. The Italian foreign ministry said information from Swiss police indicated around 40 people had died. Police at the press conference said several dozen were presumed dead, but did not give a more precise number when responding to questions from the media.
Local media reports suggested pyrotechnics could have caused the incident, although this is unconfirmed. Valais canton prosecutor general Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation was under way to identify the circumstances which caused this dramatic situation to occur. She stated that currently, they are favouring a fire as the cause, and no attack is being considered.
The Italian ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, mentioned that it will take weeks to identify the dead. A helpline has been set up for families: +41 848 112 117. Crans-Montana is a luxury ski resort, famous in the 1980s for hosting the World Cup skiing, and the bar Le Constellation has been a popular spot for locals and tourists alike.
Officials investigating the incident have not mentioned any cause, but categorically ruled out an attack. Ten helicopters, 40 ambulances and 150 emergency responders were sent overnight to the scene of the fire in the Valais region, which is popular with tourists. Most of the injured experienced severe burns and were sent to Valais hospital, said Mathias Reynard, the region's council leader, in a press conference on Thursday morning.
Details are still emerging, and it is not yet known the precise number of people who have been killed and injured, their nationalities, the cause of the fire or how many people were in the bar. Officials have, however, confirmed that several nationalities were involved. The Italian foreign ministry said information from Swiss police indicated around 40 people had died. Police at the press conference said several dozen were presumed dead, but did not give a more precise number when responding to questions from the media.
Local media reports suggested pyrotechnics could have caused the incident, although this is unconfirmed. Valais canton prosecutor general Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation was under way to identify the circumstances which caused this dramatic situation to occur. She stated that currently, they are favouring a fire as the cause, and no attack is being considered.
The Italian ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, mentioned that it will take weeks to identify the dead. A helpline has been set up for families: +41 848 112 117. Crans-Montana is a luxury ski resort, famous in the 1980s for hosting the World Cup skiing, and the bar Le Constellation has been a popular spot for locals and tourists alike.
