Swiss investigators said Friday they believe decorative sparklers attached to Champagne bottles sparked a devastating fire at a crowded ski resort bar after coming too close to the ceiling during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Authorities are examining whether the ceiling’s soundproofing materials met safety standards and whether the sparkler candles — which emit upward sprays of sparks — were legally allowed inside the venue.
The fire tore through the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana early Thursday, killing 40 people and injuring 119 others, making it one of the deadliest disasters in Swiss history. Officials also said they would review other safety measures, including fire extinguishers and emergency exits. Prosecutors in the Valais region warned that criminal charges could follow if negligence is confirmed.
Devastating fire at a Swiss bar claims 40 lives
Among those missing was 16-year-old Arthur Brodard from Lausanne. His mother, Laetitia, was searching for him Friday, clinging to the hope that he might be among six injured victims still unidentified.
“I’m searching everywhere. My son is somewhere,” she said. “I just want to know where he is and be with him — whether that’s in intensive care or elsewhere.”
Police said the injured included 71 Swiss citizens, along with people from France, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland. The nationalities of 14 victims were still unknown.
Celebration turns to catastrophe
Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, recalled feeling trapped and unable to breathe inside the Alpine bar moments after welcoming the new year. He escaped by pushing open a window with a table, but one of his friends died and several others were still missing hours later.
Outside the bar, mourners created an impromptu memorial of flowers and candles, while hundreds gathered at a nearby church to pray for the victims.
At a hospital in Sion, a distressed French teenager brought flowers for her 17-year-old best friend, who was badly burned and in intensive care. The girl said she had planned to go to the bar with classmates but changed her mind at the last minute. She later learned that some of her friends were hospitalized, while the fate of others remained unclear.
Social media quickly filled with photos of missing people, as families and friends appealed for information.
Valais regional leader Mathias Reynard said many accounts described extraordinary bravery during the chaos. While praising emergency responders, he noted that in the first moments it was largely young people who rescued others at great personal risk.
Witnesses describe sparklers and chaos
Clavier said he noticed servers entering the bar with Champagne bottles topped with lit sparklers shortly before the fire spread. Two women told French media they saw a bartender lifting a colleague onto his shoulders as she held a burning candle, moments before flames engulfed the wooden ceiling.
Witnesses described panicked crowds surging toward a narrow exit, people smashing windows to escape, and severely injured victims lying outside as parents rushed to the scene searching for their children.
Gianni Campolo, a 19-year-old vacationing nearby, rushed to help after receiving a call from a friend who escaped. He described seeing people with severe burns. “I witnessed something horrific — nothing could be worse than this,” he said.
Fourteen-year-old Marc-Antoine Chavanon also helped pull people out of the bar. “People were collapsing. We did everything we could,” he said, recalling a badly burned friend struggling to escape.
The intensity of the fire made identification difficult, forcing authorities to rely on DNA samples. In many cases, personal documents were destroyed by the flames.
Among those listed as missing was Emanuele Galeppini, a talented Italian teenage golfer. While his family awaited DNA confirmation, Italy’s Golf Federation announced that he had died.
Crans-Montana, surrounded by high-altitude ski slopes in the Valais Alps, is a well-known international ski destination and host of major sporting events, including the annual European Masters golf tournament.