Devastating fire resulting in explosions in bar in Crans Montana

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
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Not a good start to the new year for some people.

There will be a police update at 10am.

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BBC World Service speculating explosions were fireworks stored in cellar.But who stores fireworks at 1:30 in the morning of 1 Januaryy?

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The BBC news report I just watched seemed to be saying that this is just speculation of people who were in the vicinity. Also accounts of gas canisters stored there, but they took pains to stress there are no details yet.

Press conference at 10.

Absolutely tragic.

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Press conference has concluded. This is BBC summary.

Summary

  • “Several dozens” of people are presumed to have died in a fire in a bar at a Swiss ski resort, authorities say
  • The fire began at around 01:30 (00:30 GMT) in a bar called Le Constellation, police say
  • Around 100 injured are injured, with “several nationalities” involved
  • The cause is not known, although police initially said there had been an explosion.
  • Local reports say there may have been pyrotechnics involved - but that is unconfirmed
  • A helpline has been set up for concerned families: +41 848 112 117
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Over a hundred injured as well. :slightly_frowning_face:

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I updated my post just now.

There is an appeal from the authorities for the public not to put strain on Swiss Health system in all cantons. Apparently the country’s burn units are either full, or will be soon. Sion, obviously, Geneva HUG and Lausanne CHUV are in crisis mode.

Update, also from BBC

Around 40 people killed, Italian foreign ministry says, citing Swiss policepublished at 11:08

11:08

As we’ve reported, Swiss authorities believe “several dozen” people have died in the fire - and say they can’t be more specific.

Now, the Italian foreign ministry, citing Swiss police, say they believe around 40 people have died.

The ministry adds the victims could not be immediately identified because of the severity of their burns, Reuters reports.

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Our local paper is quoting the cantonal spokesman as saying a significant number of the 40 or so presumed deceased are not Swiss nationals which while require a substantial diplomatic involvement.
Most of the 100 or so injured sustained serious injuries and the hospitals are saturated at the moment.

No details of any of the victims will be released in the immediate future.

Their current theory is that a fire is at the origin of the drama with possible explosions coming as a consequence of the fire.

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What a heartbreaking start to the New Year, and given a significant number were tourists their families will be in turmoil with uncertainty, grief and logistical challenges. I hope the Swiss authorities make it easy for them to travel, deal with administration, repatriate bodies etc..

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C-M is popular with visitors from Schengen countries and others, particularly UK. Should be no issues for Schengen nationals but the rest will be governed by Schengen rules. Almost assuredly the Swiss will do what they can do.

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Sad. People were just partying.

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From what I can gather it looks like a repeat of this fire:

In such fires, you basically have seconds to make the decision to leave. The smoke quickly becomes unbearable and you die of asphyxiation even before you burn up.

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Apparently it was the Valais head of police’s first day on the job.

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This is 2026 hard to believe that with Fire Safety standards these things can occur unless standards are not enforced


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It‘s Wallis, so
.

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Fire alarm and automated sprinklers. The sprinklers wont extinguish the fire, but slow the fire for a few mins while everyone leaves the building.

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I don’t think we should be speculating like that at this point.

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I think you mean it’s Switzerland.

Building Fire prevention doesn’t seem to be taken particularly seriously here. No legal requirement for smoke/carbon monoxide detectors in households.

Never understood why. Someone said they weren’t needed here as they hardly have fires. Experts say they would have little impact as safety standards are already so high.

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And, someone recorded the start of the fire. No alarm (sadly Tom is right), no emergency lights, music still blaring, but some people already leaving.

I’ve been to bars where one is worried while thinking that if something goes wrong, there’s no way all the people can leave in time. Surprisingly, this place does not seem to be packed with people shoulder to shoulder, so who knows what went wrong.

Careful with the link. It’s the Valais newspaper, thus I assume the video is legit, but quite distressing.

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For those who understand French the interview with the two french girls higher up is quite interesting.

It appears to be a place frequented mostly by young people (late teens, early twenties) so sadly most of the victims are likely to be young people.

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If this is true then the ceiling must have had something very flammable on it.

"Pair in Le Constellation think candle may have set fire to ceiling

French nationals Emma and Albane were ringing in the new year at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana when the fire broke out in the early hours of the morning.

The pair tell BFMTV they believe the blaze was the result of a candle being “held too close to the ceiling, which caught fire”.

They claim one of the waitresses had put “birthday candles” on top of some champagne bottles, one of which was then held up.

“In a matter of seconds, the entire ceiling was ablaze. Everything was made of wood,” they say.

They say the flames “started to rise very quickly”, adding that “the entire ceiling was on fire, even the first floor was on fire” as they tried to make their way outside.

Evacuation was “very difficult”, Emma and Albane say, because the escape route out of the room they were in was “narrow” and the stairs leading outside were “even narrower”.

“We were very lucky,” they add, saying there were “about 200 people trying to get out within 30 seconds through some very narrow steps”.