Initial findings showed the fire that spread among the mostly young crowd of revellers in Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana was likely caused by sparkler candles

International News via Reuters:

Dozens of young partygoers hurt in a New Year’s Eve bar fire in Switzerland were transferred 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 revellers 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, transferred 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

Initial investigations suggest that the fire which tore through the Swiss ski resort bar started when ‘fountain candles’ were carried aloft too close to the ceiling, local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said.

“Everything suggests that the fire started from the burning candles or ‘Bengal lights’ that had been attached to champagne bottles,” she told the news conference, adding that, while this hypothesis was likely, it was not yet confirmed. “From there, a rapid, very rapid and widespread conflagration ensued.”

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.

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.

DESPERATE SEARCH

A 16-year-old Italian international golfer who lived in Dubai was the first victim to be identified publicly.

The Italian Golf Federation said it “mourns the passing of Emanuele Galeppini, a young athlete who carried with him passion and genuine values.”

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, told Reuters outside the Constellation bar that twenty 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.”

ITALIAN, FRENCH AMONG THE MISSING

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who was in Switzerland, said that 13 Italians were in hospital and six registered as missing.

France’s embassy to Switzerland said eight French citizens were unaccounted for, while another nine had been injured and were receiving care.

Visitors and residents of Crans-Montana, which is a popular draw not only for skiers, but also golfers, were stunned by the inferno.

Dozens of people left flowers or lit candles on a makeshift altar at the top of the road leading to the bar which police had cordoned off. Some cried, others quietly hugged one another.

“It could have been us,” Emma, an 18-year-old from Geneva, said outside the cordoned-off bar.

“There was an enormous queue so we decided not to go in,” she said. “I see those missing and it’s all people our age.”

Elisa Sousa, 17, said she was meant to be there but ended up spending the evening at a family gathering instead.

“And honestly, I’ll need to thank my mother a hundred times for not letting me go,” she said at the vigil for the victims. “Because God knows where I’d be now.”

Reporting by Dave Graham and Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Tassilo Hummel, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Christine Chen, Crispian Balmer; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alistair Bell, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Alex Richardson and Philippa Fletcher

Emanuele Galeppini, a 16-year-old Italian international golfer who lived in Dubai, was the first victim to be identified publicly on Friday

International News via Reuters:

Investigators on Friday set about the painful task of identifying the burned bodies from a blaze that engulfed a crowded bar and killed around 40 people at a New Year’s Eve party in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana.

Emanuele Galeppini, a 16-year-old Italian international golfer who lived in Dubai, was the first victim to be identified publicly on Friday.

So severe were the burns suffered by the mostly young crowd of revellers in the Le Constellation bar that Swiss officials said it could take days before they name all those killed in the fire that also injured well over 100 people, many of them seriously.

Parents 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.

DESPERATE SEARCH

“I have been searching for my son for 30 hours. The wait is unbearable,” Laetitia, the mother of missing 16-year-old Arthur, told BFM TV, saying she was desperate to know if he was alive or dead, and where.

“If he’s in the hospital, I don’t know which hospital he’s in. If he’s in the morgue, I don’t know which morgue he’s in. If my son is alive, he’s alone in the hospital, and I can’t be by his side.”

Authorities have warned that naming the victims or establishing a definitive death toll would take time because many of the bodies were badly burned.

“All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100 percent sure,” said Mathias Reynard, head of government of the canton of Valais. Experts were using dental and DNA samples to identify the victims, he said.

The Italian Golf Federation, which named the young Italian golfer as a victim, said it “mourns the passing of Emanuele Galeppini, a young athlete who carried with him passion and genuine values.”

CAUSE UNDER INVESTIGATION

The bodies of those killed in the fire have now all been removed from the bar, a Swiss official told Reuters. Police were still on site to continue investigations into the cause of the tragedy, which Swiss authorities said they were treating as a fire, not an attack.

Some accounts from survivors and footage broadcast on social media suggested that the ceiling of the bar’s basement may have caught fire when sparkling candles got too close.

ITALIAN, FRENCH AMONG THE MISSING

Italy and France are among the countries that have said some of their nationals are still missing.

Australia has also said one of its nationals was injured. Swiss officials have said around 40 people were killed but Italy has put the death toll at 47, based on information from Swiss authorities.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is in Switzerland, said that only five of those treated in hospital for injuries were yet to be identified.

Several of those seriously injured are receiving care in hospitals in neighbouring countries, including France and Germany.

‘IT COULD HAVE BEEN US’

Visitors and residents of Crans-Montana, which has the distinction of being not only a popular draw for skiers, but also golfers, were stunned by the inferno. Many knew victims and some said they were lucky not to have been there themselves.

Dozens of people left flowers or lit candles on a makeshift altar at the top of the road leading to the bar which police had cordoned off. Some cried, others quietly hugged one another.

“It could have been us,” Emma, an 18-year-old from Geneva, said outside the cordoned off bar.

“There was an enormous queue so we decided not to go in (to that bar on New Year’s Eve),” she said. “I see those missing and it’s all people our age.”

Elisa Sousa, 17, said she was meant to be there but ended up spending the evening at a family gathering instead.

“And honestly, I’ll need to thank my mother a hundred times for not letting me go,” she said at the vigil for the victims. “Because God knows where I’d be now.” 

Reporting by Dave Graham and Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Christine Chen, Crispian Balmer; Writing by Dave Graham and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alistair Bell, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Philippa Fletcher

The cuts would place 80% of the financial burden on employees, union leaders have said, and talks between the management board and unions on Tuesday ended in deadlock

International News via Reuters:

State-controlled Polish miner JSW on Friday warned its employees of irreversible consequences unless unions accepted a rescue plan that includes cost-cutting to ensure government aid.

The cuts would place 80% of the financial burden on employees, union leaders have said, and talks between the management board and unions on Tuesday ended in deadlock.

In an open letter to the unions on Friday, JSW management said a “temporary limitation of the level of labour costs” sought to aid a return to profitability, after a fall in coking coal prices and low demand led to financial losses in 2025.

The letter did not specify whether costs would be lowered by cutting jobs, reducing salaries or both.

Trade unions say the cuts punish workers unfairly for a situation they did not create.

Slawomir Kozlowski, head of the NSZZ Solidarność union at JSW, said in a social media post on Tuesday the proposed deal would place 80% of the financial burden on employees.

Poland’s state assets minister said in December the company needed 3 billion zlotys ($835.05 million) in liquidity to keep operating in 2026 and was seeking loans from banks and a government fund.

The company said the government was willing to provide support if “social partners” cooperated on a restructuring plan.

A fragmented system of worker representation, with dozens of trade unions operating at the company, has complicated talks.

($1 = 3.5926 zlotys)

Reporting by Alicja Surdy and Rafal Nowak; editing by Barbara Lewis

Police said the fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) as revellers were celebrating in a bar called Le Constellation in the resort in southwestern Switzerland, which locals said was popular with teenagers

International News via Reuters:

Around 40 people were killed and 115 injured when a fire ripped through a crowded bar during a New Year’s Eve party in the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, officials said on Thursday.

Police said the fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) as revellers were celebrating in a bar called Le Constellation in the resort in southwestern Switzerland, which locals said was popular with teenagers.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the disaster as “one of the worst tragedies our country has ever known” and said most of the dead were young people.

The cause of the blaze, which was initially reported as an explosion, remained unclear but authorities said the fire appeared to be an accident rather than an attack.

Authorities warned that naming the victims or establishing a definitive death toll would take time because many of the bodies were badly burned. Experts were using dental and DNA records to try to identify the dead.

SCENES OF PANIC

Video footage verified by Reuters showed fire spreading from the building, and witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion as people rushed to get out.

“There were people screaming, and then people lying on the ground, probably dead,” said 21-year-old Samuel Rapp, who saw the aftermath of the fire. “They had jackets over their faces.”

The head of the local canton’s police, Frederic Gisler, said around 40 people were presumed to be dead and 115 were injured, most of them seriously. He said it was too early to give details on the identity of the dead and injured but Italian authorities said 6 Italians were still missing and 13 in hospital.

Two young French women who said they were in the bar told France’s BFM TV that they saw the fire start in the basement section of the club after a bottle containing “birthday candles” was held up too close to the wooden ceiling.

“The fire spread across the ceiling super quickly,” one of the two women, who identified themselves as Emma and Albane, told BFM TV. The pair said they were able to climb a narrow staircase to the ground floor and escape the building. Minutes later, the fire had reached the ground floor too, they said.

BFM showed video of a waitress carrying a champagne bottle with a lit “fountain candle” through the bar, one of many in Crans-Montana, a fashionable ski centre with an array of boutiques, luxury hotels and restaurants. But the footage did not show the fire breaking out.

Local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation had been opened into the blaze at the bar, which Swiss company records showed was owned by a French couple, but she said it was too early to comment on any possible safety failures.

“There are still many circumstances to be clarified… The most likely scenario at present is that a widespread fire caused an explosion,” she told a press conference.

VICTIMS FROM SEVERAL COUNTRIES

Witnesses said many of those celebrating in the bar appeared to be from different countries. Foreign governments were calling around to establish whether their nationals were among the victims but were facing a lengthy process because the severity of the burns had rendered identification challenging, one European official said.

“We met the families this afternoon and it’s terrible because to be in front of them with all their fear and apprehension and terrible anxiety and we don’t have all the answers. And we won’t have them straight away because identifying them will take time. It’s a terrible situation on the ground. Unimaginable,” Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais cantonal government, told Reuters, his voice breaking.

Eight French people were missing, the French foreign ministry said, adding that it could not rule out that French nationals were among the dead.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to his Swiss counterpart to offer assistance. Three survivors of the fire have been moved to French hospitals and further transfers were under way, the ministry added.

Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told Sky TG24 that local authorities had told him the fire was started by someone letting off a firework inside the bar.

Witnesses described injured being treated in improvised triage centres set up in a nearby bar and in a branch of UBS bank and said many suffered after coming out of the heat of the bar into the freezing night air.

“And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth as much as possible,” said Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the frantic scenes as the bodies were brought out.

Video footage showed lines of ambulances queuing and helicopters landing to take victims to nearby hospitals and specialist burn units in other Swiss cities, including Lausanne and Zurich. Switzerland’s neighbours, France, Germany and Italy, also offered to treat victims in their own centres.

On Thursday morning, footage from the street outside showed the area cordoned off, with forensic tents behind white screens set up in front of the bar.

Hundreds of people paid their respects to the victims at the top of the road in front of the scene on Thursday evening. Dozens left flowers or lit candles on a makeshift altar in front of the police cordon as a large crowd stood in silence in the frosty night.

Crans-Montana is due to host next year’s Alpine World Ski Championships. Swiss officials said the fire was unprecedented in Switzerland.

“What was meant to be a moment of joy turned, on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana, into mourning that touches the entire country and far beyond,” Parmelin said on the social media platform X.

Additional reporting by Dave Graham in Zurich, Emma Farge in Geneva, Crispian Balmer in Rome, Richard Lough in Paris, Kirsti Knolle in Berlin, Chris Steitz in Frankfurt and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Writing by James Mackenzie and Alistair Bell;Editing by Neil Fullick, Gareth Jones, Philippa Fletcher, Ros Russell and Howard Goller