Image appears to show moment bar ceiling caught fire
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point the ceiling caught fire inside Le Constellation nightclub in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The image may have been subjected to some digital enhancement and subsequently the Guardian has blurred some identifying personal details.
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point the ceiling caught fire inside Le ConstellationShare
Updated at 12.40 GMT
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There will be a possibility to consider criminal proceedings in relation to causing a fire through negligence, homicide through negligence and corporate damage by negligence, Valais attorney general Beatrice Pilloud says.
Work is being carried out to assess whether those individuals who could face penal proceedings are still alive, she adds.
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Valais attorney general Beatrice Pilloud says the fire appears to have started from “sparklers put on bottles of champagne that was moved too close to the ceiling”.
“From that, a blaze began very quickly,” she says, adding that several videos of the incident have been obtained.
Interviews have been carried out with those who managed to escape and the two French managers, she says.
Lists have been provided of those who were present on New Year’s Eve, she adds.
The investigation’s next steps will focus on materials used in the bar, the operating permits, safety measures such as fire extinguishers and emergency exits and the number of people in attendance, she says.
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Nationalities of injured: 71 Swiss, 14 French, 11 Italians and others hurt
Valais police chief Frédéric Gisler has confirmed of the 119 injured people, 113 have been formally identified, while six others are as yet unknown.
Among the injured are 71 Swiss, 14 French citizens, 11 Italians, four Serbs, as well as one individual each from Bosnia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland and Portugal.
Fourteen of the injured’s nationalities have not yet been confirmed.
He says the death toll still stands at 40, with formal identification continuing.
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Updated at 14.33 GMT
Many people were injured and are “still fighting to live”, says Reynard, who is praising by the “exceptional teams” giving critical care to victims.
“Many people have given up their leave to go to the hospital,” he says. “A nurse told me today silence is reigning at the hospital.”
A ceremony will be held on 9 January in Crans-Montana to give the local community a chance to come together to remember to victims of the fire.
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Reynard is thanking neighbouring countries who have offered to help following the tragedy.
He says transfers have already started to hospitals in France, and French doctors are also assisting at Valais hospital.
An offer to care for injured people in the north of Italy was also accepted, Reynard adds.
Around 50 injured have been or will be transferred soon to specialised centres for severe burns in other European countries.
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Swiss authorities hold press conference
The Swiss authorities are now holding a press conference in Sion, Switzerland, to update on the fire.
Mathias Reynard, president of Valais state council, says work has been underway to identify the victims as quickly as possible.
The Valais hospital immediately cared for at least half of the patients admitted, with “immense support” from the other Swiss cantons, he says.
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Updated at 14.23 GMT
Angela Giuffrida
My colleague Angela Giuffrida in Crans-Montana has also reported the below on the critical condition of the majority of those injured in the fire:
Stéphane Ganzer, a regional health and safety official, told RTL radio that several of the injured had not yet been identified, either because they were not carrying ID or because it had been lost in the fire, adding that many were also in a critical condition.
“I think a large number of the injured, maybe between 80 and 100, are in a life-threatening condition,” Ganzer said on Friday.
When 15% or more of an adult’s body has third-degree burns, there is a risk of death in the days and hours that follow.
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Valais canton president says at least 80 of 115 injured are in critical condition
The exact death toll is still being established.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), it could still rise with canton president Mathias Reynard telling the regional newspaper Walliser Bote that at least 80 of the 115 injured were in critical condition.
A press conference from the Swiss authorities is expected to begin soon. We will bring you lines from it once it commences.
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While the cause of the disaster is still under investigation, videos and photos suggest the blaze spread quickly.
My colleagues have created a visual guide to the Crans-Montana bar fire in Switzerland, with photos, video and text. You can view it at the link below:
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Earlier we reported that Poland had offered specialised medical care (see 10.37am GMT) as overwhelmed Swiss burn units send victims of the ski resort fire in Crans-Montana to neighbouring countries.
The Polish offer of help includes four ICU beds and 10 for patients with less severe injuries, a Polish interior ministry spokesperson said.
The beds are located at the southern Siemianowice Slaskie hospital, which specialises in the treatment of burns and chronic injuries, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Poland has also proposed deploying two medics on the ground, as well as aircraft to transport the 14 injured to the Polish hospital.
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Updated at 13.35 GMT
Crans-Montana fire survivors treated in burns units across Europe
Deborah Cole
Survivors of the catastrophic bar fire in the upmarket Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are being cared for in special burns units across Europe, while investigators say many of the dead were so badly burned that it could take days or weeks to identify them.
About 40 people were killed and 115 injured when the blaze ripped through a New Year’s Eve celebration in the packed Constellation bar and basement nightclub.
Crans-Montana’s mayor, Nicolas Féraud, said:
The first objective is to assign names to all the bodies.
The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions” as he described the devastating toll. “Behind these figures are faces, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or for ever changed,” Parmelin said at a news conference.
Medical staff work next to Swiss air ambulance planes at Sion airport. Photograph: Lisa Leutner/Reuters
So severe were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said identification work was particularly gruelling. Parents of missing youths issued pleas for news of their loved ones and foreign embassies scrambled to work out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to strike modern Switzerland.
Mathias Reynard, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental records and DNA samples for the task. He said:
All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100% sure.
Despite having one of the world’s most advanced medical systems, Switzerland’s regional clinics quickly reached capacity in the hours after the blaze. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with specialised burns units in Zurich and Lausanne and six were taken to Geneva, according to a Swiss news agency.
Many more of the injured were transported to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU said it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance.
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Updated at 13.13 GMT
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point just before the ceiling caught fire inside Le Constellation nightclub in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
The image may have been subjected to some digital enhancement.
Photograph: unknownShare
Image appears to show moment bar ceiling caught fire
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point the ceiling caught fire inside Le Constellation nightclub in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The image may have been subjected to some digital enhancement and subsequently the Guardian has blurred some identifying personal details.
This image, that has been circulating online, appears to show the point the ceiling caught fire inside Le ConstellationShare
Updated at 12.40 GMT
A Swiss flag flies at half-mast at the Federal Palace, Bern, today following a fire at Le Constellation bar and lounge that killed and injured several people during New Year’s celebrations.
Swiss police stated that around 40 people were killed and about 115 injured in the fire that devastated the venue on New Year’s Eve in the Swiss Alps resort of Crans-Montana. Photograph: Anthony Anex/EPAShare
Italian foreign minister: some survivors still unidentified due to ‘horrific’ injuries
Thirteen Italians remain in hospital, with five of them having suffered “severe injuries and burns”, according to the Italian foreign minister.
Antonio Tajani added that six more Italian nationals are unaccounted for following the devastating fire at the Swiss ski resort bar.
Speaking to the media, Tajani said that Italy has offered burns units in Italian hospitals, and has sent burns specialists, psychologists and coroners to help with the identification of the victims.
He also said that three of the 115 injured people in hospital have not yet been identified because their injuries are too severe.
“Identification is an issue. There are three people who are injured who have not been identified. We hope that they may be among the Italians missing … the injuries of those who survived are also horrific.”
He added that images circulating of ignited sparklers inside the venue “does seem to be an irresponsible choice. Something clearly went wrong here, something didn’t work. Judges will carry out an investigation and apportion responsibility.”
Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani arrives outside the Le Constellation bar Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/ReutersShare
Updated at 12.24 GMT
Authorities on Friday began moving the bodies of victims of a fire that ripped through a crowded bar a day before in a Swiss ski resort town to a funeral centre in a nearby city, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The first silver-coloured hearse rolled into the funeral centre in Sion shortly after 11am (10am GMT), according to AFP journalists on the scene. It was followed by several other hearses.
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Families and loved ones of those who attended a New Year’s celebration at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana face an agonising wait for news. Reuters has this report:
“I have been searching for my son for 30 hours. The wait is unbearable,” Laetitia, the mother of missing 16-year-old Arthur, told BFM TV, saying she was desperate to know if he was alive or dead, and where.
Laetitia added:
If he’s in the hospital, I don’t know which hospital he’s in. If he’s in the morgue, I don’t know which morgue he’s in. If my son is alive, he’s alone in the hospital, and I can’t be by his side.
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Dental and DNA samples being used to identify victims, says official
Reuters has shared some more on the difficulties facing those tasked with identifying victims of the fire.
Swiss authorities have warned that naming the victims or establishing a definitive death toll would take time because many of the bodies were badly burned.
“All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100 percent sure,” said Mathias Reynard, head of government of the canton of Valais. Experts were using dental and DNA samples to identify the victims, he said.
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Updated at 11.35 GMT
