Survivors of the Swiss bar fire that killed at least 47 people on New Year’s Eve had to break glass windows to keep from burning alive — with one witness describing the gruesome scene as “like a horror movie” Friday.
Frantic revelers at the ski resort hotspot Le Constellation bar in the ritzy Alps town of Crans-Montana were on fire themselves as they tried to squeeze through a small exit door at the crowded club, one survivor told ABC News.
“There were people who were on fire and broke the glass because the door was way too small,” said the survivor, identified as Victoria — adding there were roughly “300 people” desperately trying to escape.
“It’s really disturbing,” she said, adding she and her friends were lucky to get out. “It feels surreal.”
Another witness, Oscar, 19, said he was headed into the bar when he saw the building “explode” with fire outside.
“Everyone was banging on the windows and stuff. Screaming. It was like a horror movie,” he told Sky News.
“Many people tried running out and people were banging on the windows, because it’s like a winter garden … It’s like a semi-outside spot but still with windows,” he said.
“But they couldn’t get out. I think the windows were too thick. Then people, like, fell on each other coming out, fully burned.”
The blaze broke out after a server, who was sitting on another server’s shoulders, tried to serve Champagne with sparklers and accidentally lit the club’s ceiling ablaze, ABC reported.
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“Me and friends were first one to realize there was a fire,” Victoria said, adding that the fire quickly spread. “When I got outside, the whole bar was on fire.”
Survivor Nathan Huguenin,19, meanwhile, said he couldn’t sleep after escaping the inferno.
“I feel like it’s actually a nightmare, that I’m going to wake up,” Huguenin told reporters. “I closed my eyes, and everything kept coming back to me, because I saw people being resuscitated. I saw people completely burned. I saw people dying.”
“Honestly, it was quite complicated and quite difficult to stomach,” he said.
