What we covered
• Deadly blaze: About 40 people were killed and around 115 others injured in a fire at a New Year’s party in a Swiss ski resort bar, according to police. Multiple people are missing, including a teenager who was celebrating the new year with friends, say his parents.
• Alpine haven: One of Switzerland’s most exclusive locales, Crans-Montana is known for sweeping vistas stretching from the Matterhorn to Mont Blanc.
• Investigation underway: Authorities said a “flashover” sparked a rapid explosion as the flames raged. Two witnesses told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the fire was caused by sparklers placed in champagne bottles, but officials say the investigation will take time.
• Scenes of panic: Video from outside Le Constellation bar shows panic in the crowd as the blaze broke out. One witness said he heard screams and saw people lying on the ground in the aftermath.
Our live coverage has ended. Get the latest here.
"We still have hope," say parents searching for missing teen son after Crans-Montana fire
The parents of a missing teenager who was celebrating New Year’s Eve at a Swiss ski resort bar when a deadly fire broke out shared their heartache on Friday and said they are holding onto hope that he is alive.
Christophe and Laetitia Brodard from Lausanne have not heard from their 16-year-old son Arthur since he joined around 10 of his friends who had a table at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.
They said the group attend the Collège Champittet Pully school in Lausanne and often meet in the resort town, where many of their families have holiday homes, to ski and celebrate New Year.
“We are so empty. We think he could still be alive so we still have hope of finding him,” Christophe Brodard, a financial advisor, told CNN from Crans-Montana, where he and his wife were still searching for their son.
“They ordered a bottle of champagne with a sparkler. One or two minutes later, it was the apocalypse.”
Christophe Brodard said it is normal for teenagers to spend New Year together in Crans-Montana, adding that it is usually a “really, really safe” place where everybody knows each other.
He said Arthur had planned to stay at a friend’s house near the bar and did not realize anything was wrong until a cleaner mentioned people had died.
“Then I ran to the bar and saw the other parents,” he added.
“Arthur is really responsible. He is a good person and he was so happy to be spending that night with his friends.”
9 French nationals injured, 8 missing after Swiss fire
Nine French nationals were injured in the fire at the Swiss resort and eight remain unaccounted for, France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday, adding that it couldn’t rule out its citizens may be among the dead.
The injured French nationals “have been taken into care,” according to the ministry. Three of them have been transferred to French hospitals in Lyon and Paris, while other transfers were underway, it said.
French government departments have been “fully mobilized in monitoring the aftermath of the fire” and are “working closely with the health authorities,” the ministry said. A crisis and support center in Paris and the French Consulate General in Geneva have also been deployed to assist families, it added.
Survivor, 16, describes "total chaos" as friend killed in fire
A teenager who survived the blaze at Le Constellation bar in Switzerland told the Associated Press on Thursday night that one of his friends died and “two or three” others remain missing.
Axel Clavier from Paris recalled the terror of hiding behind a table and struggling to breathe. He raced upstairs and used a table to smash a window to escape from the fire.
The 16-year-old did not see the fire start but recalled waitresses arriving with sparklers in champagne bottles before “total chaos” erupted, he told the news agency.
Clavier lost his jacket, shoes, phone and bank card while fleeing but told AP, “I am still alive and it’s just stuff. I’m still in shock.”
One Australian injured in Crans-Montana fire, official says
An Australian national was among the more than 100 people injured in the fire at Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, according to Australian authorities on Friday.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian that has been injured and is receiving medical care following the fire,” a DFAT spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.”
The department said it was “making urgent enquiries with local authorities to determine whether any other Australians were impacted.”
It was like a horror movie, says victim’s friend as mourners lay flowers and light candles
Dozens of mourners stood in silence, lit candles and laid flowers during a vigil at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana Thursday night.
As people came to pay their respects, some could be seen hugging and comforting one another.
“You think you’re safe here but this can happen anywhere. They were people like us,” Piermarco Pani, 18, told Reuters news agency.
A makeshift altar has been set up, laden with flowers and candles, at the top of the road leading to Le Constellation bar, where about 40 people were killed and around 115 others injured in the inferno.
Achour, who works in a local sushi restaurant, said this was a tragedy not only for Crans-Montana but “a national and international tragedy.”
“Now is the time for us to be together, for everyone to love each other, it’s important,” he said.
Heavy silence in the air as the town takes stock
As night closed in on the main street in Crans-Montana, the only thing out of place was the silence.
In this popular upmarket resort perched in the Swiss Alps, you would expect to hear evening revelry. But on what should have been a night of celebration with bars still fêting the New Year, many doors are shuttered in mourning or respect. Instead, crowds of a different sort gathered quietly in the streets, hundreds coming together in grief.
Police tape and small grottos of candles mark the street where Le Constellation bar is located. Local student Thomas Dias, who had been to the bar many times before, came here with friends to lay flowers this evening.
He was still waiting to hear from two friends who were in the bar last night, which was popular with teenagers and young people, he told CNN.
To those trapped inside, he said, escape would have likely been a “nightmare“, if hundreds had to funnel up the narrow staircase from the basement to the ground floor. It’s “unimaginable,” he said.
By chance, he and his friends had decided to stay outside the bar last night.
“It should’ve been us,” he said.
Authorities described the fire at a Swiss ski resort as a “flashover." Here's what that means
During an earlier press conference in the wake of the deadly fire at a Swiss resort, Béatrice Pilloud, the attorney general for Valais canton, said that a “flashover” is believed to have impacted the blaze.
Pilloud noted that the exact circumstances are unclear, but investigators are looking into whether a flashover, in which everything in a room ignites almost simultaneously, caused an explosion at Le Constellation bar.
A flashover occurs when hot gases rise to the ceiling and spread across the walls, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
The heat intensifies until all combustible items in the room reach their ignition point and catch fire.
As temperatures soar to as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, even firefighters in full protective gear are unlikely to survive, according to the NFPA .
“Imagine you have a whole ceiling spreading fire very quickly, the amount of energy coming from that ceiling is coming down onto all of the other combustible objects in the entire facility,” Kerber said,
Survivors describe escaping the flames through a window
Two witnesses, Axel and Nathan, told CNN affiliate BFMTV they couldn’t breathe as clouds of black smoke filled their surroundings after a fire broke out at the Swiss resort.
Unable to escape at first because of the large crowd trying to leave Le Constellation bar, they decided to hide behind a table turned on its side to avoid contact with the flames. The only way out, they said, was through a window. After much effort, they managed to break a window open and escape.
An eyewitness outside the bar told French television channel France 2 that they saw smoke and people banging on Le Constellation’s windows as they tried to get out.
Swiss teen describes harrowing escape from ski resort fire
Seventeen-year-old Laetitia Place narrowly escaped the blaze at Switzerland’s Crans-Montana ski resort.
She spoke to Reuters about what unfolded at Le Constellation bar, saying: “We all saw really horrible things that no one should ever have to see.”
When Place headed downstairs toward the bathroom, she and her friend saw the fire and tried to return upstairs. “I grabbed my friend’s arm, but then I climbed the stairs and I let go,” she said. “Now he’s not answering me anymore.”
Place described the panicked rush to evacuate the bar.
She emphasized how scared she was for herself and everyone at the bar during the deadly inferno, and told Reuters that she has friends who are still hospitalized.
“I was so scared - scared for myself, scared for my friends, scared for everyone inside.”
Arab countries send messages of support following Swiss ski resort fire
Arab countries have expressed their condolences following the deadly fire at a bar in a Swiss ski resort.
Egypt expressed its sympathies for the Swiss government and the victims of the tragedy, calling it a “painful humanitarian crisis,” in a statement on its foreign ministry’s website.
Oman’s foreign ministry also extended its condolences on X and wished those injured a speedy recovery.
Jordan expressed its “full solidarity and support” for the Swiss government and people, and extended its condolences to the victims and their families, according to a post by its foreign minister on X.
In photos: Mourners grieve for victims of deadly Crans-Montana fire
People have been gathering near the site of the fire at a Swiss ski resort bar — laying flowers, lighting candles and congregating in church — to mourn the roughly 40 victims of the New Year’s tragedy.
UK's King Charles sends condolences to those affected by "devastating" fire in Switzerland
The United Kingdom’s King Charles III sent a message of condolences to those affected by the fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
“My wife and I were appalled, and greatly saddened, to learn of the devastating fire last night in Crans-Montana, in Switzerland. It is utterly heartbreaking that a night of celebration for young people and families instead turned to such nightmarish tragedy,” King Charles said in a message to the president of the Swiss Confederation.
Foreign nationals “from multiple countries are likely” to be among the victims, the British embassy in Switzerland said earlier.
Israel offers Switzerland help following ski resort tragedy
Israeli President Isaac Herzog offered condolences and assistance in a call with his Swiss counterpart Guy Parmelin following the deadly fire at a bar at a Swiss ski resort.
During the call, Herzog underscored Israel’s experience and “advanced capabilities” for finding and identifying fire victims and treating burn victims, according to the Israeli president’s office.
French soccer player among those injured in fire, club says
Tahirys Dos Santos, a 19-year-old trainee soccer player from French soccer club FC Metz was among those injured in the fire at Le Constellation bar, according to a statement from the club.
The player was “severely burned and has been transferred by plane to Germany where he is being treated,” the statement read.
FC Metz, a club competing in France’s main soccer league, added that “the leaders, players, coaches and employees of the club are in shock and unite their thoughts to address them to Tahirys” and that the club is working to enable the player to be repatriated to his home.
Apparent bar promo video from 2024 shows people carrying bottles with sparklers
An apparent promotional video for Le Constellation bar shows women wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying bottles of alcohol topped with sparklers as they walk through the establishment.
The video, which was posted on YouTube in May 2024 by the account @ConstellationCransMontana, is captioned: “Le Constellation Crans-Montana welcomes you every day from 9am to 2am, 365 days per year, without interruption.”
Following the deadly fire on Thursday, two witnesses told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the devastating incident was caused by sparklers placed in champagne bottles.
“There were waitresses carrying champagne bottles with sparklers on them, and they carried them close to the ceiling, which caused it to catch fire,” one eyewitness said.
“One waitress was standing on another waiter’s shoulders, and the bottle and the flames were just a few centimeters away from the ceiling,” the other reveler added.
Authorities said Thursday evening that it was too early to determine what exactly started the fire and that the investigation will take time.
When questioned by a journalist at a news conference about the origin of the fire, Valais canton Attorney General Béatrice Pilloud said she could not comment on reports that a sparkler was the ignition source and that it was too early to determine exactly what started the fire.
CNN has asked Le Constellation for comment on the cause of the fire and the purported use of sparklers.
Mourners light candles hours after Switzerland ski resort tragedy
People gathered on New Year’s Day to lay flowers and light candles after a tragedy struck revelers at a popular Switzerland ski resort in Crans-Montana.
Many families are still waiting to find out the whereabouts of their loved ones.
Police say at least 40 people were killed and more than 100 were injured when the fire broke out at the resort bar around 1:30 a.m. local time.
Here’s what we know after a fire killed around 40 people and injured scores more
Officials are learning more about the deadly fire which killed around 40 people and left scores of others injured.
Here’s what we know so far:
- What happened: Smoke was first noticed coming out of Le Constellation bar at 1:30 a.m. local time, according to Valais Cantonal Police Commander Frédéric Gisler. A few seconds later, a witness contacted the emergency call center to report the fire. A red alert was immediately sent to mobilize the fire service, Gisler said. According to witnesses, the fire caused an “explosion,” a state council member said.
- Response: Authorities responded within minutes of a fire being reported, Gisler said. Ten helicopters and 40 ambulances were mobilized to attend to the incident, Swiss authorities said. In addition, 150 medical personnel were mobilized, according to Reynard.
- Victims: Gisler said “about 40” people have died in the fire and 115 were injured, many of them severely. Foreign nationals “from multiple countries are likely” to be among the victims, according to the British embassy in Switzerland. The high injury toll has overwhelmed the local medical system in the Valais canton, with patients being transported to hospitals across the country and abroad. Valais State Council President Mathias Reynard said the identification of all the victims could “take several days.”
- Where it happened: Le Constellation is situated within a luxury ski resort in Crans-Montana. It has a capacity of 300 people with a terrace space for 40, according to a description of the bar on the resort’s official website. It is unclear which part of the bar was affected by the fire. Crans-Montana, one of Switzerland’s most exclusive locales, is famed for its year-round sunshine and is situated 1,500 meters above sea level.
- Reaction: Guy Parmelin, president of the Swiss Confederation, called the fire “a tragic loss” and “one of the worst tragedies” the country has experienced as he offered his condolences to victims and their families. French President Emmanuel Macron also offered his condolences to the bereaved and said Switzerland has “full solidarity and support” from France. Macron spoke with Parmelin today to express this. The US Embassy in the Swiss capital Bern said it is “deeply saddened by the tragic fire.” The French couple who owns Le Constellation said they are “completely in shock,” according to CNN affiliate BFMTV, citing a source close to the case.
CNN’s Laura Sharman, Alex Stambaugh, Martin Goillandeau, Sophie Tanno, Ivana Kottasová, Camille Knight, Charlotte Reck, Lauren Chadwick, Mitchell McCluskey contributed reporting.
As an investigation into the deadly fire is underway, here’s what officials say they will focus on
Investigators are seeking answers to a host of questions regarding the deadly fire at a ski resort in Switzerland on New Year’s Day.
Here’s what they’ll focus on:
- Cause of the fire: Béatrice Pilloud, attorney general of the Valais canton, said it is too soon to determine the cause of the fire at the bar Le Constellation. Officials are not treating the incident as a terror attack.
- Early allegations: Some witnesses earlier told media outlets, including CNN affiliate BFMTV, that the fire broke out after champagne bottles topped with sparklers were carried too close to the ceiling of the bar. But when asked about this during a news conference today, Pilloud maintained that it is still too early to determine what exactly started the fire.
- No arrests: Pilloud said no arrests have been made in connection to the blaze, adding that the opened investigation is to determine the cause of the fire and not into any particular individuals.
- People inside the bar: Swiss authorities do not know how many people were inside the bar at the time of the fire. Pilloud said that questions around the capacity of the venue will be part of the investigation.
- Questions around safety: Pilloud also said that the investigation will include whether safety standards were being met. “Concerning the narrowness of the stairs … the investigation will also determine if all the safety standards were complied with or if it wasn’t the case,” she said.
CNN’s Ivana Kottasová, Martin Goillandeau and Charlotte Reck contributed reporting.
Macron speaks with Swiss president "to express our solidarity" after deadly ski resort fire
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with the President of the Swiss Confederation Guy Parmelin to express France’s solidarity after a fire killed dozens at a Swiss ski resort.
“The toll is devastating. Our thoughts are with the families,” Macron wrote on X.
France’s hospitals are receiving injured people, and diplomatic teams are monitoring the situation to provide assistance to French nationals, Macron said.
