From joy to horror in seconds: at least 40 killed by fire in Swiss bar

Scores hurt at new year celebration in venue popular with teenagers

- Chris Michael Crans-Montana Luke Harding Angela Giuffrida

Switzerland will hold five days of mourning after fire tore through a crowded bar, killing about 40 young people and injuring 115 who were celebrating at a New Year's Eve party in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, described the blaze as one of the most traumatic events in Switzerland's history. "It was a drama of an unknown scale," he said, paying tribute to the many "young lives that were lost and interrupted".

Switzerland owed it to those young people who had their "projects, hopes and dreams" cut short to ensure such a tragedy never happened again, added the president.

Witnesses said the fire had broken out at 1.30am in the town's Le Constellation bar after sparklers or flares were put into champagne bottles.

Two women told the French broadcaster BFMTV a bartender had been carrying a female member of staff who was holding one of the bottles.

The flames set fire to the ceiling. Within seconds the blaze had spread, engulfing a crowded basement packed with new year revellers, including many teenagers.

One of the women described a crowd surge as people desperately tried to escape up a narrow flight of stairs.Ulysse Brozzo, 16, an instructor at a local ski school, said several of his friends had been in the club at the time. He said he had spoken to some who were safe, but had yet to hear from others he knew were inside when the fire broke out. A friend of a friend was in a coma in hospital. “It’s a total tragedy,” he said. “There were hundreds of people inside.”

Video posted by survivors showed the blaze taking hold immediately above the bar. Other footage showed grim scenes of orange flames billowing from a ground-floor lounge and several people lying motionless on the street.