Dozens dead, around 100 injured in fire at Swiss Alps bar during New Year’s party

Fire at luxury ski resort town caused by ‘explosion of unknown origin,’ Swiss police say, as influx of wounded fills local hospital to capacity

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Several dozen people were killed and around 100 injured when a fire ripped through a crowded bar Thursday during a New Year’s celebration in the Swiss Alps, authorities said.

“Several dozen people are presumed to have died,” Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters. “We are devastated.”

Specific casualty figures were not immediately available from the fire at the Le Constellation bar, a spot popular with tourists in the luxury Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana.

Police, firefighters and rescuers rushed to the town, one of the top-ranked ski destinations in Europe.

Injuries were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, according to regional councilor Mathias Rénard.

In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.

Swiss media suggested that the fire may have started when pyrotechnics were used during a concert, but police have said the cause is still unknown.

Police spokesman Gaetan Lathion told AFP earlier there had first been an “explosion of unknown origin” at around 1:30 a.m. at Le Constellation.

He added that some 100 people had gathered at the bar — which has a capacity of 300 people — for New Year celebrations.

A tourist from New York filmed bright orange flames pouring from the bar, and told AFP he saw people running and screaming in the dark.

Local media described a “smell of burning still in the air.”

“The party was in full swing… music and champagne flowing freely,” said a town resident to 24 heures, a Lausanne newspaper. As news of the fire broke, they said, the carefree mood vanished and people began gathering in the street. “We could hear the sirens in the distance. Around me, people were stunned, worried, silent.”

“We heard helicopters all night long,” another neighbor told the outlet.

“With the fireworks, we didn’t understand what was going on at first. Then we saw the smoke. It’s terrible, a lot of young people go to that bar,” he continued.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.