Swiss identify first bodies after bar fire as sparklers blamed

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland – The first bodies, including of two minors, were identified on Jan 3 after the

deadly blaze that killed 40 New Year revellers at a packed bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana.

Dozens of people badly burnt in the fire early on Jan 1 in the glitzy Alpine town were taken to nearby countries for urgent treatment, while the authorities pointed the finger at lit sparklers attached to champagne bottles that ignited foam on the ceiling.

The police in Switzerland’s south-western Wallis canton said on Jan 3 that investigators identified the remains of four young Swiss nationals who perished in the fire, including a girl and a boy, both aged 16.

The police said the bodies had been returned to their families as efforts continue to identify the other victims.

On Jan 2, the authorities said that 113 of the 119 people who were injured in the blaze had been identified, with most of those hurt remaining in serious condition.

Many of those injured were foreign nationals, and, given Crans-Montana’s international popularity, non-Swiss citizens are also expected to figure among the dead.

People continued to bring flowers, candles and messages on Jan 1 to a makeshift memorial near the scene of the tragedy at Le Constellation bar, where people have often simply stood in stunned silence.

“Courage to all the victims’ families, we’re thinking of Stefan and hoping he’s okay; a hero,” said one message. Cards read: “We’re thinking of you” and “May they rest in peace.”

The tragedy remains the topic of every conversation, filled with pain, sadness, and also incomprehension.

Search for loved ones

The disaster has left Switzerland reeling, with families of the overwhelmingly young partygoers waiting for news of their loved ones.

Among those bracing themselves for the worst was Ms Laetitia Brodard, who said the last text message she had received from her son Arthur was “Mother, Happy New Year, I love you”.

“It’s been 40 hours. Forty hours since our children have disappeared. So we should know by now,” she told journalists on Jan 2 near the memorial.

The exact number of people who were at Le Constellation when it went up in flames remains unclear.

The Crans-Montana website said the venue had a capacity of 300 people, plus 40 on its terrace.

Le Constellation’s two French managers have been taken in for questioning, with one of them, Mr Jacques Moretti, insisting to the Swiss press that

all safety norms were followed

.

But the chief prosecutor of the Wallis region, Ms Beatrice Pilloud, said the standards were among the focuses of the investigation.

Ms Pilloud told reporters on Jan 2 the leading hypothesis was that “sparklers or Bengal candles attached to champagne bottles and lifted too close to the ceiling” had ignited the deadly blaze.

One video showed the low wooden ceiling – covered with soundproofing foam – catching alight and the flames spreading quickly, but revellers continuing to dance, unaware of the death trap they were in.

Once they realised, panic set in.

‘Highly flammable’

Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos as people tried to break through the windows to escape, while others, covered in burns, poured out into the street.

Looking at the images of the event shared on social media, experts suggested “highly flammable” soundproofing foam covering the ceiling may have caused a flashover – a near-simultaneous ignition of everything in an enclosed space.

An eyewitness, Nathan, who had been in the bar before the fire, saw burnt people streaming out of the site.

“They were asking for help, crying out for help,” he said, declining to give his last name.

Mr Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he saw bodies “covered with a white sheet” and “young people, totally burnt, who were still alive... screaming in pain”.

Of the injured, Wallis police commander Frederic Gisler said Jan 2 that at least 71 were Swiss, 14 were French, 11 were Italian, and four were from Serbia, along with victims from Bosnia, Belgium, Poland, Portugal and Luxembourg.

But the French foreign ministry said Jan 3 that it now counted 16 French nationals injured in the blaze, while nine remained missing.

Identifying victims

The Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, leaving an agonising wait for family and friends, while desperate appeals to find those missing circulated online.

Mr Guido Bertolaso, the regional health chief for Italy’s Lombardy region, told reporters that a critically injured 15-year-old girl was expected to arrive in Milan by helicopter on Jan 3 for treatment.

Two other boys believed to be Italian were also at the Zurich burn centre, awaiting DNA testing.

“Why can’t we identify them? Because their faces are completely covered with bandages... (and) they are intubated, so they are unable to speak,” he said.

Several memorial masses for the victims are planned, including one on the evening of Jan 3 in Crans-Montana.

“It’s very sad, deeply sad,” said a French tourist on Jan 3 in Crans-Montana, skis in hand, who wished to remain anonymous.

But it seemed “a familiar scenario: a bar that, according to initial reports, wasn’t necessarily meeting the standards, and young people who didn’t necessarily notice the risks”, he told AFP.

“This kind of tragedy has already happened elsewhere. If only this one could make young people, and not so young people, aware of the risks, of checking emergency exits.” AFP