Swiss resort fire likely started by sparkler candles

Dozens of young partygoers hurt in a New Year's Eve bar fire in Switzerland were transfered to specialist burn units across Europe with serious injuries on Friday after being hit by the devastating blaze, which has killed at least 40.

Initial findings showed the fire that spread among the mostly young crowd of revelers in Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana was likely caused by sparkler candles being carried too close to the ceiling, the local prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, investigators focused on the painful task of identifying the burned bodies, warning that this process was very sensitive and would take time.

So severe were the burns that Swiss officials said it could take days before they name all those killed in the fire. The official toll is 40 dead, while 119 have been injured, many of them very seriously. Those numbers are not final, officials said.

"Many of those injured are still fighting for their lives today," Valais area chief Mathias Reynard told a news conference.

Around 50 of the injured have been, or will be, transfered to burn units in hospitals elsewhere in Europe, he said. Germany and France are among the countries treating some of the injured.

Of the injured, 113 have been identified, 71 of whom are Swiss, 14 French and 11 Italian, four Serbian, one Bosnian, one Belgian, one Polish, one Portuguese and one Luxembourgish, police chief Frederic Gisler told the same news conference.

Fire likely caused by party candles

Moments before flames and smoke engulfed the bar, staff were seen holding aloft sparklers stuck in Champagne bottles, videos posted online showed.

The mini-fireworks were being waved near the basement bar's low wooden ceiling, covered in thin soundproofing fabric, according to the images on social media.

One video showed the ceiling catching alight and the flames spreading quickly -- but revellers initially continuing to dance, unaware of the death trap they were in. A young man is seen attempting to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth. 

"Everything suggests that the fire started from the burning candles or 'Bengal lights' that had been attached to champagne bottles," local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud told a news conference, adding that, while this hypothesis was likely, it was not yet confirmed. "From there, a rapid, very rapid and widespread conflagration ensued."

Witness accounts later relayed to various media said the sparkler parade was a regular "show" for patrons in the bar, which typically drew a young crowd.

The flames spread with terrifying speed in the bar, which was packed with New Year's Eve partygoers. 

The video which showed the ceiling catching fire went on to capture a scene of panic: people scrambling and screaming in the dark as smoke and flames around them grew bigger.

The investigation was also checking whether the ceiling's insulation foam was to blame for the rapid spread of the fire, Pilloud said.

Further investigations will show if anyone needs to be held criminally liable for negligence, she added.

Desperate escapes, desperate searches

Axel, who was in the basement where the fire started, told reporters he did not know how he "miraculously" made it out. He turned over a table and hid behind it to protect himself from the fire, before making his way upstairs. 

"We couldn't see anything, I was half choking," he said. He used a table, and then his feet, to break a window to get out, avoiding what he said was a single door that was too narrow for the many people trying to escape.

Elliot Alvarez, a local who had been at a next-door bar with friends, said: "We received a call from a friend who was clearly panicked on the phone and explained that there had apparently been an explosion."

When he and his friends arrived at the scene, they found the place crawling with emergency responders and "people on the ground being treated, people coming out, burned". 

Police commander Frederic Gisler told reporters that "the red alarm, which mobilizes the fire department, was triggered" immediately when authorities were alerted to the situation.

Passers-by shortly before 1:30 am (0030 GMT) on Thursday had seen smoke coming out of the centrally located bar and called the emergency services.

At 1:32 am, the first police patrols arrived on the scene. Firefighters and other emergency workers also rushing in.

At that time, inside the bar, flames had engulfed the basement. Smoke was everywhere, also filling the first floor, according to videos. 

Outside, bystanders could see flames, later describing scenes of chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.

Young patrons in the bar, disoriented by the smoke and panic, tried to escape through the front door, causing a crush at the exit. 

'Crying for help'

Nathan, who had been in the bar before the blaze, saw burned people streaming out of the site. 

"They were asking for help, crying out for help," he said.

Adrien, a young vacationer from Dijon, France, described on TikTok how he "saw people breaking windows with chairs".

"They were in a terrible state, covered in blood, their clothes melted ... It was a catastrophe." 

Leandre, who was outside, told the Blick newspaper of the "very sad" scene, with "people burned beyond recognition".

"We tried to rescue them as best we could ... tried to cover them, because they had no clothes left," he said.

"It was really difficult. We tried to pull people out who were conscious, people who were unconscious, and get them to a warm place."

He said that even the rescue workers "were overwhelmed", because everything happened so quickly, with "people who were burned alive".

'White sheet'

Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, said he saw bodies "covered with a white sheet" and "young people, totally burned, who were still alive ... screaming in pain".

After emergency units at local hospitals filled, many of the injured were transported across Switzerland, and beyond.

Outside a Milan hospital, Umberto Marcucci told reporters he was "thanking the heavens" that his son Manfredi – one of four Italians being treated at the hospital – made it out alive.

"My son is sick but he's fine, he's alive," he said. Manfredi, he said, had been at Le Constellation with many friends and escaped with "burns on 30 to 40 percent of his body".

"He told me that at a certain point, someone yelled 'fire' in the bar area... and from there the fire spread incredibly quickly."

Parents and friends of missing youths issued pleas for news of their loved ones as foreign embassies scrambled to work out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to befall modern Switzerland.

Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, the mother of 16-year-old Arthur, was looking for information near the site of the blaze.

"We are together, we are in shock, we take each other in our arms and we cry. We try to give each other hope," she said of her relatives and others of those missing.

Marco, a 20-year-old from Milan, said outside the Constellation bar that 20 of his friends were missing.

"Some of them are injured, in bad condition. Some of them are completely safe. And some of our friends, we don't have any news. They told us they never found them," he said. "Nobody can help us find our friends."