The Italian foreign ministry said early indications from Swiss police suggested that at least 40 people had died. Crans-Montana is in south-western Switzerland and close to the borders of both Italy and France. It is a popular winter resort.
Beatrice Pilloud, attorney-general of the Valais Canton, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire as experts had not yet been able to get inside the wreckage. However, authorities ruled out terrorism as a likely cause.
Valais radio station Rhône FM said New Year’s Eve fireworks were being investigated as a possible cause.
Police officers at the scene.Credit: AP
Swiss newspaper TdG quoted one witness from inside the bar as saying fireworks had been placed on bottles in the nightclub, leading to a fire in the ceiling.
The fire spread very quickly, he said, causing panic and a stampede as revellers tried to get out of the building.
A local doctor told RTS (Swiss radio and television) that many of the injured had severe burns.
BBC journalist Silvia Costeloe, who was in town at the time of the fire, reported that the bar was a local institution.
“It’s been around for at least 40 years,” she wrote. “It’s a big bar and it’s not posh. But this is quite a posh ski resort, there’s quite a lot of luxury here – it was famous in the 1980s for hosting the World Cup skiing, and that’s coming back.
“You go there for beers – it’s a kind of young bar. It would’ve been a mixture of young people, Swiss people, people coming up from the valleys to celebrate here in Crans-Montana.”
A reception centre and helpline had been set up for impacted families, Lathion said.
The community is in the heart of the Swiss Alps, just 40 kilometres north of the Matterhorn and 170 kilometres east of Geneva.
Crans-Montana is a popular ski and hiking area and regularly hosts World Cup races. The highest point of Crans-Montana, with a population of 10,000 residents, sits at an elevation of nearly 3000 metres.
The tragedy comes at a notoriously busy period time for Swiss hospitals as the seasonal flu combines with winter holiday accidents to put pressure on the system.
Local media were reporting a call for the public to avoid taking risks on New Year’s Day out of solidarity with the victims and to avoid further burdening hospitals.
AP, Reuters
