Several Dead After Explosion and Fire at New Year’s Party in Switzerland

The police said the fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. after an explosion at a bar in Crans-Montana. The number of deaths and injuries was unknown.

Several people were killed and others injured after an explosion and a fire at a bar in Switzerland during a New Year’s celebration early Thursday, the Swiss police said.

The blaze broke out around 1:30 a.m. after the explosion at Le Constellation, a bar in Crans-Montana, a municipality in the Valais canton, said Gaëtan Lathion, a spokesman for the region’s police. The police said it was not clear what caused the explosion or the fire.

Police officers, firefighters and ambulance crews were responding to the fire at the two-story building where there were “many injured, many dead,” Mr. Lathion said. He said that the number of casualties was unknown.

Valais Cantonal Police said in a statement later in the morning that the operation was ongoing, calling the fire a “serious incident” that caused several deaths. It said the area around the bar was cordoned off.

Mr. Lathion said the police were requesting people whose family members could be impacted by fire to notify the authorities.

Crans-Montana is a popular destination in the Swiss Alps that offers views of the Matterhorn, a mountain considered Switzerland’s most famous landmark, and other peaks like Mont Blanc.

This is a developing story.

Related Content