At least 40 people are confirmed to have died and 115 are injured, dozens severely, following the New Year’s blaze at a bar in a Swiss ski resort — as the local police commander confirmed that many of the victims are expected to be foreign nationals.
“We can expect victims of foreign nationalities,” local police chief Frederic Gisler said at a press conference as he gave the preliminary death toll from Thursday morning’s fire.
“This was one of the worst tragedies our country has experienced,” Swiss President Guy Parmelin told the Thursday press conference in the wake of the fire which ripped through the packed bar in the upscale resort town of Crans-Montana.
Flags in Switzerland will fly at half-staff for five days, Parmelin confirmed, after he delayed his scheduled New Year’s Day message to the country in the wake of the disaster.
The fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. at “Le Constellation,” with emergency services quickly arriving.
None of the dead have yet been publicly identified, although police are analyzing cell phones left behind at the scene as they investigate the cause of the blaze.
“The current leading theory is that a widespread fire caused an explosion,” regional prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud told the news conference.
The area around the bar will remain closed during the police investigation, Gisler confirmed.
