Society News

Crans-Montana bar fire: about 40 dead at a New Year party, and an unconfirmed candle theory

A fire tore through Le Constellation, a crowded bar in the Swiss Alpine ski and golf resort of Crans-Montana in Valais canton, within about two hours of midnight on New Year's Day. Police said about 40 people were killed and about 115 injured, most of them seriously, according to The Associated Press, carried by US public radio station KAXE. Authorities did not immediately have an exact count.

Swiss outlet Blue News, carrying the national agency Keystone-SDA, attributed the same figures to officials of the canton of Valais. Prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said it was too early to determine the cause. AP noted that witnesses told French broadcaster BFMTV a bartender holding a lit candle in a bottle was involved and that flames reached a wooden ceiling; those accounts were unconfirmed. Vatican News reported police saying the fire then triggered an explosion inside the bar, and said witness video suggested sparklers on Champagne bottles held too close to the ceiling, which it presented as a possibility.

“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack.” — Prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud, via AP

Victims include Swiss residents and foreign holidaymakers. Italy's ambassador said 13 of the wounded were Italian citizens and six other Italians were unaccounted for. Switzerland declared five days of mourning, and President Guy Parmelin called it one of the worst tragedies the country has ever known.

How each outlet framed it

• AP — the toll, the prosecutor's caution, and unconfirmed witness accounts about a candle.
• Blue News — a brief national-agency report built on Valais officials' figures.
• Vatican News — national mourning, flags at half-mast and the stories of individual victims.

What we don't know yet: the exact cause, the final death toll, and how long identification will take; Vatican News said it could take days or weeks.