Celebration turned into a nightmare

Desperate partygoers smash windows to escape

- BY PATRICK HILL in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and SIMON MURPHY

JUST over an hour after the clocks struck midnight to usher in the new year, waitresses carried bottles of champagne containing flaming sparklers into a bar at one of Switzerland's top ski resorts.

A few minutes later, an evening of celebration turned into a nightmare as scores of partygoers -some in their teens - desperately tried to escape as a blaze ripped through the basement venue.

About 40 people were last night thought to have died with 115 injured in Le Constellation bar at the Crans-Montana resort.

What started as a scene of revelry was likened to a horror movie as Swiss president Guy Parmelin described it as one of the country's worst tragedies.

Footage emerged showing what appeared to be the beginning of the inferno, with flames spreading across the bar's ceiling. It has not been confirmed how the fire started.

One witness described a crowd surge as people tried to escape up a narrow flight of stairs and through a door. Another told of people smashing windows.

About 60 people were being treated at Sion hospital, in Valais, with others elsewhere.

SUFFOCATING

The resort is a well-known international ski and golf venue and Valais Canton police commander Frederic Gisler said: "We think that there are international victims.

"We are trying to contact the families, working with the various affected embassies," he added.

Survivor Axel Clavier, 16, said one of his friends died and two or three were still missing.