Agony of sparkler inferno parents

Desperate wait after club tragedy

- By Patrick Hill in Crans-Montana Pictures: Tim Merry

LIKE millions of other parents, Laetitia Brodard-Sitre had a “Happy New Year” text from her son just after midnight.

Since then, she has heard nothing.

Fighting back tears at the site of the horrific nightclub blaze which killed at least 40 people, she said: “It’s an unbearable wait.”

Laetitia, 42, mum to Arthur, 16, added: “I won't stop searching. I won't give up.”

Parents across Europe found themselves in the same dire situation yesterday, as police officers continued to recover bodies from the ruins of the nightclub after the blaze, which broke out at about 1.30am.

Pictures emerged last night of the moment sparklers ignited the ceiling of Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana.

Other family members of the missing, including relatives of Diana, 14, and Alicia Gonset, 15, yesterday posted photos and details of their loved ones on social media.

They are thought to have been in the bar with another missing girl, British-educated Charlotte Niddam, said to be 15 and a former pupil of Emmanuel College, Watford in north London, close to where she lived with her French-born parents for several years before moving to Switzerland.