CHANDIGARH / SWITZERLAND, Jan. 1, 2026: At least 40 people were killed and 115 others injured, many seriously, after a fire tore through a New Year’s Eve celebration at a popular bar in Switzerland’s Crans-Montana ski resort, authorities said Thursday.
The blaze engulfed the crowded Le Constellation bar less than two hours after midnight, turning a night of revelry into one of the country’s worst recent tragedies. Police and emergency teams are working to identify victims and notify families, Valais Canton officials said.
“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais regional government. He added that local hospitals were stretched to capacity, with intensive care units and operating theatres quickly overwhelmed by the injured.
Valais Canton police commander Frederic Gisler said investigators are focusing on determining the cause of the fire. “At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” said Beatrice Pilloud, canton attorney general. Fire experts have yet to enter the wreckage.
Eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes as flames spread. Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, said he initially hid behind a table before breaking a Plexiglas window to escape, losing personal belongings in the process. “I am still alive and it’s just stuff. I’m still in shock,” he told The Associated Press.
Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV that they saw a male bartender lifting a female colleague holding a lit candle in a bottle, after which flames spread and collapsed the wooden ceiling. Panicked crowds surged through narrow staircases and doors, with some smashing windows to escape.
Authorities said the fire likely triggered a sudden backdraft, a violent ignition of combustible gases, which intensified the blaze. Reynard warned locals to exercise caution over the coming days to avoid incidents that could strain medical services already overwhelmed by the emergency.
Crans-Montana, nestled in the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, is internationally known as a ski and golf destination. It will host World Cup downhill races before the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, and its nearby golf club stages the European Masters each August.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin expressed condolences to victims, their families, and the injured in a social media post, noting that he had delayed his traditional New Year address out of respect.
The disaster recalls previous New Year tragedies in Europe, including a 2001 fire in the Dutch town of Volendam that killed 14 people and injured more than 200 during a cafe celebration.
