Around 40 dead, 115 injured in fire at a bar in Switzerland’s ski resort town Crans-Montana
Swiss authorities have confirmed that at least 40 people have died and 115 others have been injured in a fire that ripped through a bar in the resort town of Crans-Montana in Switzerland on Thursday.
Addressing a joint press conference with Swiss President Guy Parmelin and other officials, Commander of the Valais Contonal Police Frederic Gisler confirmed the toll for the first time since the tragedy struck earlier in the day.
“As I speak to you, we have identified around 40 people who have died, and another 115 people severely injured,” Gisler said in the press conference.
Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.
“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud told the same press conference.
The Crans-Montana fire
The incident occurred at approximately 1:30 AM (local time) while New Year’s celebrations were in progress. According to eyewitnesses near the site of the incident, pyrotechnics may have been the trigger for the massive blaze in the bar.
Police said the area was “completely closed to the public”, and that “a no-fly zone over Crans Montana has been imposed”. The fire incident is not being treated as terror-related, police had confirmed earlier.
“At the moment we are considering this a fire, and we are not considering the possibility of an attack,” prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud told a press conference, according to Reuters.
The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue, and overnight, its crowded Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of potentially one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.
The Crans-Montana resort is due to host a speed skiing event called the FIS World Cup later this month.
