New Year’s Eve fire at Swiss nightclub kills 47, leaves 115 injured; witnesses describe panic, chaos

A New Year’s Eve celebration in Switzerland turned into a deadly stampede as a fast-moving fire tore through a packed nightclub, leaving dozens dead and scores injured. By Friday morning, at least 47 people had died and 115 were injured in the blaze, prompting the country to declare five days of national mourning.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight at Le Constellation, a basement-level bar and nightclub crowded with hundreds of mostly young revellers in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana. Authorities said many of the injured suffered severe burns, complicating efforts to identify victims. Neighbouring countries offered medical assistance as Switzerland grappled with one of the deadliest disasters in its recent history.

Witnesses recall panic and confusion

Survivors described scenes of chaos as flames spread rapidly, filling the venue with smoke and cutting off escape routes. Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside when a male bartender lifted a female colleague onto his shoulders as she held a bottle topped with a lit candle. According to their account, the flame caught the wooden ceiling and the fire spread within seconds.

“The fire spread across the ceiling super quickly,” said one of the women, identified as Emma. She and her friend Albane said panic erupted almost immediately as the ceiling began to collapse and people surged toward a narrow staircase leading out of the basement.

‘Everyone was screaming’

Witnesses described a deadly crowd surge as people tried to escape through a small exit.
“It was absolute panic, everyone was screaming,” Emma and Albane told BFMTV, recalling how movement became uncontrollable as smoke thickened.

Another witness said people smashed windows to escape as flames engulfed the venue, describing badly injured people outside and parents arriving in cars, desperately searching for their children. Watching from across the street, he said he saw about 20 people scrambling through smoke and fire, likening the scene to a horror movie.

Video footage verified by Reuters showed flames spreading across the building as crowds fled.

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

Frederic Gisler, head of police in the Valais canton, said around 40 people were presumed dead and 115 injured, most of them seriously. Italian authorities said six Italians were missing and 13 were hospitalised.

Survivors describe total chaos

Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris who survived the blaze, told the Associated Press he experienced “total chaos” inside the bar. One of his friends died and “two or three” others were missing.

Clavier said he saw waitresses carrying champagne bottles with sparklers but did not witness the fire’s ignition. As smoke filled the club, he struggled to breathe, hid behind a table, then ran upstairs and smashed a Plexiglas window with a table to escape.

“I’m still in shock,” he said. “I lost my jacket, shoes, phone and bank card, but I’m alive. It’s just stuff.”

Witnesses said the injured were treated at improvised triage centres set up in nearby buildings, including a bar and a UBS bank branch, before ambulances and helicopters ferried victims to hospitals in Lausanne, Zurich and other cities. “And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth,” said Dominic Dubois, who watched bodies being carried out.

Gruelling task of identifying victims

Investigators began the painstaking process of identifying dozens of charred bodies, warning it could take several days due to the severity of burns. As teams worked through the wreckage, anxious families issued appeals for information while foreign embassies tried to establish whether their nationals were among the victims.

“The first objective is to assign names to all the bodies. 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,” Crans-Montana Mayor Nicolas Feraud told a press conference, adding that the process would be slow and meticulous.

Five days of mourning

Swiss President Guy Parmelin announced five days of mourning, calling the fire one of the most traumatic events in the country’s history. “This evening should have been a moment of celebration and togetherness, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais cantonal government.

France said eight of its citizens were missing and did not rule out French nationals being among the dead. The French foreign ministry said President Emmanuel Macron had spoken to his Swiss counterpart to offer assistance. Three survivors have already been transferred to hospitals in France, with further evacuations underway.

Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told Sky TG24 that authorities had indicated the fire may have been sparked by someone setting off a firework inside the bar.