Crans-Montana bar fire: Italian minister praises cooperation with Switzerland

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani praised the "very positive" cooperation with Switzerland. Keystone-SDA

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani travelled to Crans-Montana, canton Valais, on Friday. On his arrival, he praised the "very positive" cooperation with the Swiss authorities following the deadly blaze at a bar in the Swiss ski resort on New Year's Eve.

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Tajani visited Crans-Montana on Friday with the president of the Valais government, Mathias Reynard. He praised the “very positive” cooperation with Switzerland.

The Italian minister laid a wreath before passing behind the white tarpaulins surrounding the “Le Constellation” bar which was engulfed by a fire on January 1.

“The collaboration is very positive”, he told the media, recalling that he had spoken on several occasions with his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis since Thursday.

“As you know, since yesterday morning, the Italian ambassador and the consul general in Geneva have been here to stand by the Italians and provide everyone with all possible information, but also to gather information in order to get a complete picture of the situation”, he added.

Fourth casualty admitted to Italy

Tajani added that Italy had “shown great willingness to receive non-Italian casualties in the Italian hospital system”, stressing that a fourth casualty had been admitted to the Niguarda burns centre, near Milan.

“We are therefore also here to show Italy’s willingness to collaborate with Switzerland, both from a health point of view and from a police and civil protection point of view,” he said. The minister also offered the assistance of the transalpine forensic police in identifying the victims.

Tajani said 13 Italians had been injured in the blaze and six were missing.

Around 40 people are dead and 115 seriously injured, many young people, after a fire tore through the “Le Constellation” bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in southern Switzerland on January 1, Valais cantonal police said on Thursday.

The injured have been transported to various hospitals across Switzerland, including Sion, Lausanne, Bern, Geneva and Zurich. Other neighbouring countries have offered specialist help.

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

Adapted from German by AI/sb

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