A New Year’s Eve party at one of Switzerland’s best‑known ski resorts turned into a disaster in minutes when fire tore through the Le Constellation bar in Crans‑Montana, killing 40 people and injuring more than 100. Videos show a packed basement room of young holiday‑makers moments before champagne sparklers appear near the low ceiling, and then a sudden rush toward a narrow staircase as thick smoke fills the space.
Investigators now say those sparklers, fixed to champagne bottles, likely set fire to foam or sound‑dampening material on the ceiling, creating a “flashover” that allowed flames and smoke to race across the room faster than many could escape. Fire‑safety experts have pointed to egg‑crate‑style acoustic foam visible in images as a potential accelerant, and authorities are reviewing whether the bar followed rules on materials, exits and crowding.
Swiss police have now identified all 40 victims, who include teenagers as young as 14 and guests from Switzerland, Italy, France, Romania, Turkey and the Gulf region, turning the tragedy into a multinational day of mourning. Families have held silent marches through the resort streets and outside the charred building, leaving flowers and candles while they wait for answers about how a celebration in an Alpine postcard setting became one of the country’s worst peacetime disasters.
A straight‑news piece from Reuters, Pressure builds for answers over Swiss bar fire after victims identified, pulls together the investigation, the victims’ stories and the growing local pressure to find out who failed them
