Swiss authorities say the death toll from the during a New Year’s party at a ski resort bar, has risen to 40, and left 115 others injured in the inferno.
Authorities say they expect the death toll to rise, as some people who were celebrating the party at the popular Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, are still missing and feared trapped in the rubble, while some who have been admitted in hospital are badly injured.
The bar was filled with European mostly tourists who frequent the area for its skiing slopes and were looking forward to hosting a crossover party for the new year at the venue.
Authorities say the cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage, however they suspect that a ‘sparkle’ placed on champagne bottles, might have caused a ‘flashover’ that ignited the disaster.
“They ordered a bottle of champagne with a sparkler.
One or two minutes later, it was the apocalypse,” said of the survivors.
Some survivors, mostly foreigners, described that they had to break windows and jump from the upper floors, to escape from the fire.
“There was a huge crowd movement.
Everyone was fighting to get out. It was quite difficult to watch,” explained another survivor.
Others said the incident will always traumatise them.
“We all saw really horrible things that no one should ever have to see.”
I grabbed my friend’s arm, but then I climbed the stairs and I let go, and now he’s not answering me anymore.
There’s the small door where everyone was pushing, and so we all fell, we were piled on top of each other, some people were burning, and some were dead next to us,” recounted another witness.
Swiss authorities say they haven’t ruled out that a ‘sparkle’ might have caused the inferno, but they’re still investigating the incident as circumstances are still unclear.
“There are a lot of circumstances to clarify, several hypotheses were put forward.
The main theory we’re prioritizing is a flashover that provoked a rapid explosion.
Several witnesses have been heard and there are telephones that were recovered to be analyzed,” said Béatrice Pilloud, the Attorney General for Valais Canton, which governs the region.
Meanwhile, Switzerland has declared five days of mourning following the devastating incident.
