Young Italian golfer fears dead: what we know about the fire at a Swiss hotel complex
Ben TobiasAnd
Patrick Jackson
Italian Golf Federation
A fire in a bar at a Swiss ski resort killed 40 people and injured 119 others, authorities said.
Le Constellation bar at the Crans-Montana resort was packed with Swiss and tourists celebrating the New Year in the early hours of Thursday when the fire broke out in the basement.
Prosecutors say that, according to initial investigations, the probable cause of the fire was sparklers placed on champagne bottles placed too close to the ceiling.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin called it “one of the worst tragedies” experienced by the country.
A teenage Italian golfer is the first victim to be named by the media, but not officially.
Families of missing teenagers face an agonizing wait for information as most of the 40 victims and six of the injured have not yet been identified.
A helpline has been set up for affected families: +41 848 112 117
Here’s what we know so far.
Italian golfer Emanuele Galeppini reportedly dead
Several media outlets named Italian golfer Emanuele Galeppini, 16, as the first identified victim of the fire following a statement from the Italian Golf Federation.
A spokesperson for the Italian Foreign Ministry told the BBC it could not confirm the information.
In a tribute, the Italian Golf Federation called Emanuele “a young athlete who carried with him passion and authentic values.” But the press release does not mention the fire in Switzerland.
Local Italian media previously reported that Emanuele’s father said his son was at the bar the night of the fire and that the family had their last contact with him at midnight.
The Italian Foreign Ministry said six of its citizens were still missing.
France has He also said eight of his citizens were missing and he could not rule out French nationals being among the dead.
A Belgian citizen was also missing, the Belgian Foreign Ministry told the BBC.
Police Commander Frédéric Gisler confirmed on Friday that 113 of the 119 injured people had been formally identified.
Those identified include:
- 71 Swiss citizens
- 14 French
- 11 Italian
- Four Serbs
- A Bosnian
- A Belgian
- A Luxembourg citizen
- A Polish citizen
- A Portuguese
He warned that the numbers could change.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also said an Australian was injured in the fire and was now receiving medical treatment.
Many people injured in the fire remain in critical condition “and are still fighting to live,” said Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais region.
French football club FC Metz said one of its young players was “severely burned” in the fire. Tahirys Dos Santos, 19, was flown to a hospital in Germany for treatment, the statement added.
The UK embassy in Switzerland says it is monitoring the situation but has not been contacted for help.
Consular staff are ready to support affected British nationals, a Foreign Office statement said.
Reuters
What could have caused the fire?
Béatrice Pilloud, attorney general of Valais, said that everything led investigators to believe that the fire started from sparklers attached to champagne bottles.
“Everything suggests that the fire started from flickering candles – or sparklers – placed on champagne bottles and placed too close to the ceiling,” she told reporters on Friday. “From there, a fire broke out very quickly.”
She said that the two French managers of the bar had been questioned as well as people who escaped the fire.
BBC Verify verified two photos showing lit candles attached to bottles inside the bar, which were shared online, claiming they were taken at the start of the fire, at 1:30 a.m. (0030 GMT).
One image shows people holding several bottles in the air with lit candles attached and what appears to be a fire in the ceiling.
The second image shows a person in a sleeveless black dress and hard hat holding a bottle with a lit sparkler attached, on the shoulders of a person wearing a mask.
PROVIDED
What do we know about the evacuation?
Earlier, Ms Pilloud said an investigation would be carried out to determine whether the bar met safety standards and had the required number of exits.
Investigators will look at safety measures in place, such as the use of fire-resistant materials.
Among the materials that will be examined, RTL TV suggests, is a layer of foam that appears to have been applied to the basement ceiling, perhaps for soundproofing.
Two French nationals interviewed by BFMTV described the evacuation as “very difficult” because the exit route was “narrow” and the stairs to exit “even narrower”.
A survivor called Axel, who was in the basement of the bar, reportedly said, according to the Reuters news agency, that he did not know how he “miraculously” managed to get out.
He turned over a table and took cover behind it to protect himself from the fire, before going upstairs. “We couldn’t see anything, I was half suffocated,” he said. He eventually broke a window to get out, avoiding what he said was a single door too narrow for the many people trying to escape.
At a previous press conference, Ms Pilloud would not confirm whether the stairs were narrow, adding that investigations would assess whether they complied with requirements. She said it was too early to comment on possible security lapses.
The bar’s owner told local media that the establishment had been inspected three times in the past ten years and “everything was done according to regulations.”
Constellation is a great bar that has been around for many years.
Although the Crans-Montana resort itself is quite upscale, Le Constellation wasn’t particularly chic, the BBC’s Silvia Costeloe reports from the resort.
Upstairs there is an area with television screens where people go to watch football matches. Downstairs is a large bar where people were probably drinking and dancing.
It could accommodate up to 300 people and had a small terrace, although it is not known how many people were there at the time of the fire.
The Christmas and New Year holidays are one of the busiest times of the year for alpine ski resorts.
A promotional video posted on YouTube for Le Constellation, released in May 2024, showed women wearing motorcycle helmets riding through the bar while carrying sparklers in alcohol bottles above their heads.
The caption, written in French, read: “The Constellation Crans-Montana welcomes you every day from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., 365 days a year without interruption.”
Valais Cantonal Police
Correction Jan. 2: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the attorney general said the stairs appeared narrow. This was the result of an error in the live translation of the press conference and the story has since been changed.
January 2 clarification: This article previously reported that 14 Polish citizens were reportedly injured in the fire. In fact, Poland had offered to treat 14 people in its hospitals. Authorities announced Friday that a Polish citizen had been injured.
