Crans-Montana bar fire: death toll could rise, Swiss official warns

Around 40 people are dead and 115 seriously injured after a fire tore through the "Le Constellation" bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in southern Switzerland on January 1, police say. Keystone-SDA

The painful task of identifying the victims of the New Year's Eve bar fire in Crans-Montana in southern Switzerland is continuing and will take time, says Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais cantonal government. The death toll remains unchanged - 40 killed and 115 seriously injured - but could rise, according to a Swiss official.

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“Our teams are still on the front line,” Reynard told Swiss public radio RTS on Friday morning. But the job of identifying the victims “will still take some time”, he declared, adding that a great deal of care was being taken with the victims.

Many of the 115 people who have been hospitalised have not yet been identified.

“We’ll probably need another day to be able to do that,” Stéphane Ganzer, the Valais minister in charge of security, told the French radio station RTL.

‘A terrible toll’

The two ministers did not give any new casualty figures on Friday. But Ganzer warned that the “terrible” toll may get worse.

“Between 80 and 100 injured” are still in a “total emergency” situation, he added.

“The toll is rising because we know that when people are injured and have around 15% of their body surface with third-degree burns, there is a risk of death in the hours and days that follow, since septicaemia [serious blood stream infection] can spread throughout the body,” he said.

Hospitals under pressure

Reynard said the situation in Swiss hospitals was “extremely tense”.

“Some people who had the day off have come to work to help their colleagues,” he said.

Discussions are also underway on the transfer of medical skills. French doctors specialising in severe burns could travel to canton Valais to lend support.

The minister paid tribute to “the citizens and young people who saved lives in the first few minutes” when the fire broke out at the “Le Constellation” bar in the Swiss mountain resort.

Reynard refused to give any further details on the causes of the tragedy. He said the initial indications – a general fire that caused a conflagration [a large fire that causes a lot of damage] – were still valid.

Adapted from French by AI/sb

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