In the cheers of the New Year’s countdown, 16-year-old Parisian Axel Clavier was originally raising a glass to celebrate the new year with his friends at a bar in a skiing resort in Switzerland. However, within minutes, the joyful music turned into piercing screams, and the fresh Alpine air was replaced by suffocating thick smoke.
Clavier told the Associated Press that he managed to escape death by smashing a window with a table, but several of his friends are still missing to this day.
The tragedy that unfolded at the “Le Constellation” bar in the Crans-Montana resort has claimed the lives of 47 people so far, making it one of the most severe tragedies in Swiss history.
Survivors at the scene described the horrifying scene of the fire outbreak. Witnesses told French broadcaster BFMTV that a male bartender carried a female bartender into the venue with a champagne bottle containing burning sparklers. Due to the excessive height, the flames instantly ignited the wooden ceiling.
The fire spread at an unimaginable speed, triggering what fire experts call a “flashover.” Stephane Ganzer, a member of the Valais council and a former firefighter, explained that the high temperatures indoors caused combustible gases to reach their ignition point instantly, resulting in a massive “explosion.” Witnesses described a bomb-like explosion followed by the collapse of the entire ceiling, plunging the crowd who were reveling in the nightclub in the basement into despair.
Another female survivor described the chaotic scene where the crowd that was partying in the nightclub in the basement rushed towards the narrow staircase and the only exit when the ceiling collapsed, leading to severe overcrowding and stampeding.
Amidst the extreme chaos and darkness, acts of kindness and heroism emerged. Matthias Reynard, the head of the Valais government, pointed out that in the initial few minutes before the professional rescue teams arrived at the scene, it was the “young heroes” at the scene who held the first lifeline.
“We’ve heard countless touching stories of heroism,” Reynard told the radio station, highlighting that many young people, like Clavier, didn’t immediately flee after their own escape but risked returning to the fire scene to drag out injured companions, breaking sealed windows with their bare hands and using the snow outside to cool severely burned victims before paramedics arrived.
Reynard lamented, “It’s the courage of these young people that saved more lives in the darkest moments.”
The fire also left approximately 115 people injured, most of whom are teenagers or young adults in their twenties.
Due to the intense fire, many victims’ identification documents and wallets have turned to ashes. Families are now required to provide DNA samples and await the lengthy matching process.
This tragedy has also touched the international community. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that several Italian citizens are still missing, including 17-year-old Italian golf prodigy Emanuele Galeppini.
Valais Prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud stated that terrorism has been ruled out in the investigation, and efforts are focused on determining any liability for negligence.
This tragedy has cast a shadow over the upcoming sports events. The World Cup skiing race scheduled to take place before the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, where renowned athlete Lindsey Vonn was expected to compete, is now under evaluation for its continuation.