Switzerland - 40 dead and 116 injured in fire in bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss ski resort, 1 January 2026

[Dotta]

Yes, exactly! I also remember when a fire broke out at the Lame Horse (Khromaya Loshad) nightclub in Perm, Russia, in December 2009. I was reading articles about it at the time, and many people blamed corruption. The fire was caused by sparks from pyrotechnics used inside the club. Some exits were closed, and people ran toward a single, very narrow exit. Many also died after inhaling toxic fumes. This story reminded me a lot if the Khromaya Loshad fire.

Lessons never learnt

 

[PrairieWind]

A cover charge of € 1,000 would be outrageous and if true, would be a hugely important point for the prosecution to prove.

I don't think that 1,000 EU for a table at a nice resort bar for New Years Eve is surprising. Yes, it is outrageous, but not at all unusual. What were the drinks selling for? All outrageous prices for sure, but standard. But also irrelevant in my opinion. The owners put together a death trap.

 

[Dotta]

"The waitress​

'was locked in a bitter employment row with owners'.​

Cyane had contacted
'the workers' protection service'
over her employment conditions
and was demanding 'a contract, her work certificate, and her salary certificate'.

She was entitled to all of these documents under Swiss law,
but the Morettis appeared reluctant to give them to her,
or to pay her a decent wage."

Waitress blamed for fire at Swiss bar 'was locked in row with owners'

Cyane Panine died in the inferno at Le Constellation, in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, after she was filmed holding two champagne bottles fitted with sparklers.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[MelmothTheLost]

What could have been another tragedy was averted in a Madrid restaurant last weekend:

Moment sparklers start fire at busy Spanish restaurant - echoing deadly Swiss bar inferno​

The inferno broke out on Saturday night at Fanatico, a fashionable restaurant in the centre of the Spanish capital, and was extinguished in about eight seconds using fire extinguishers, restaurant operator GLH Singular Restaurants said in a statement.

Footage shows a curtain catching fire as diners waved lit sparklers while dancers performed as part of a circus-themed show.

A waiter is seen quickly intervening with an extinguisher to put out the flames.

No injuries and no structural damage to the establishment were reported.

Moment sparklers start fire at restaurant - echoing Swiss bar inferno

The inferno broke out on Saturday night at Fanatico, a fashionable restaurant in the centre of the Spanish capital.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Herat]

Is anyone missing the message about how LETHALLY DANGEROUS SPARKLERS ARE ?

 

[iamshadow21]

Is anyone missing the message about how DANGEROUS SPARKLERS ARE?

As a kid, we were only ever allowed the thin metal stick kind, and they were very much for outdoors only, under strict supervision. We never used them indoors.

I've seen that sometimes people stuck them in cakes, but why would you? Who wants to eat icing that tastes like metal and gunpowder?

MOO

 

[PrairieWind]

As a kid, we were only ever allowed the thin metal stick kind, and they were very much for outdoors only, under strict supervision. We never used them indoors.

I've seen that sometimes people stuck them in cakes, but why would you? Who wants to eat icing that tastes like metal and gunpowder?

MOO

Totally agree. Those things are thousands of degrees hot. The idea of using them indoors (let alone in a crowded bar) is insane!

 

[whitelilac]

Is anyone missing the message about how DANGEROUS SPARKLERS ARE?

They should never ever be used indoors.

True story...married couple friends back in the day, she had a baby after years of being unable to conceive. Next day her husband came into the hospital room with a flowers and waving a lit SPARKLER. It set off the smoke alarm ! The whole floor was evacuated.
Even crazier is that they were both doctors.....both psychiatrists in fact.

This devastating tragedy is just unforgivable, my opinion is the owners need to be charged big time. First the sparklers in a flammable area, and no emergency exit, and a huge crowd in a space with only a narrow staircase to exit?

 

[Herat]

They should never ever be used indoors.

True story...married couple friends back in the day, she had a baby after years of being unable to conceive. Next day her husband came into the hospital room with a flowers and waving a lit SPARKLER. It set off the smoke alarm ! The whole floor was evacuated.
Even crazier is that they were both doctors.....both psychiatrists in fact.

This devastating tragedy is just unforgivable, my opinion is the owners need to be charged big time. First the sparklers in a flammable area, and no emergency exit, and a huge crowd in a space with only a narrow staircase to exit?

I think people naively think they are not much risk because they don't produce a big flame like a candle, and they only spark for a short time.

Enough, to set on fire extremely flammable materials in confined spaces that are killing hundreds of people.

I'd love to see if the Morettis invoiced sparklers in their regular supplies for the bar.

 

[PrairieWind]

I think people naively think they are not much risk because they don't produce a big flame like a candle, and they only spark for a short time.

Enough, to set on fire extremely flammable materials in confined spaces that are killing hundreds of people.

I'd love to see if the Morettis invoiced sparklers in their regular supplies for the bar.

Their on-line ads showed these sparklers were a thing.

 

[Yellowbelly]

"The waitress​

'was locked in a bitter employment row with owners'.​

View attachment 637307

Cyane had contacted
'the workers' protection service'
over her employment conditions
and was demanding 'a contract, her work certificate, and her salary certificate'.

She was entitled to all of these documents under Swiss law,
but the Morettis appeared reluctant to give them to her,
or to pay her a decent wage."

Waitress blamed for fire at Swiss bar 'was locked in row with owners'

Cyane Panine died in the inferno at Le Constellation, in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, after she was filmed holding two champagne bottles fitted with sparklers.

www.dailymail.co.uk

On top of all that, the waitress hadn't received any safety training.

BBC News - Swiss bar employee who reportedly held sparkler unaware of dangers, family says

Swiss bar employee who reportedly held sparkler unaware of dangers, family says

Cyane Panine, 24, died in the Crans Montana fire that is believed to have started when sparklers attached to champagne bottles set foam on the ceiling alight.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Yellowbelly]

What could have been another tragedy was averted in a Madrid restaurant last weekend:

Moment sparklers start fire at busy Spanish restaurant - echoing deadly Swiss bar inferno​

The inferno broke out on Saturday night at Fanatico, a fashionable restaurant in the centre of the Spanish capital, and was extinguished in about eight seconds using fire extinguishers, restaurant operator GLH Singular Restaurants said in a statement.

Footage shows a curtain catching fire as diners waved lit sparklers while dancers performed as part of a circus-themed show.

A waiter is seen quickly intervening with an extinguisher to put out the flames.

No injuries and no structural damage to the establishment were reported.

Moment sparklers start fire at restaurant - echoing Swiss bar inferno

The inferno broke out on Saturday night at Fanatico, a fashionable restaurant in the centre of the Spanish capital.

www.dailymail.co.uk

It wasn't a tragedy because the staff quickly grabbed the fire extinguishers and put it out, which didn't happen at Le Constellation.

There was something in the latest piece from the BBC that caught my eye. It's this -

In a statement to the BBC, Sophie Haenni, the lawyer representing Panine's family, said she "wasn't supposed to be serving tables" on the night of the fire but had been asked to go downstairs to help manage high demand for bottles.

"Cyane simply followed the instructions given, did her job, and did so in front of the manager (Jessica Moretti)," Haenni said. "She was never informed of the ceiling's danger and received no safety training."

To me, that reads as if Jessica Moretti was down in the basement when the fire broke out. If so, then instead of grabbing the fire extinguisher and tackling the fire, JM grabbed the takings and ran.

Swiss bar employee who reportedly held sparkler unaware of dangers, family says

Cyane Panine, 24, died in the Crans Montana fire that is believed to have started when sparklers attached to champagne bottles set foam on the ceiling alight.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[PrairieWind]

It wasn't a tragedy because the staff quickly grabbed the fire extinguishers and put it out, which didn't happen at Le Constellation.

There was something in the latest piece from the BBC that caught my eye. It's this -

In a statement to the BBC, Sophie Haenni, the lawyer representing Panine's family, said she "wasn't supposed to be serving tables" on the night of the fire but had been asked to go downstairs to help manage high demand for bottles.

"Cyane simply followed the instructions given, did her job, and did so in front of the manager (Jessica Moretti)," Haenni said. "She was never informed of the ceiling's danger and received no safety training."

To me, that reads as if Jessica Moretti was down in the basement when the fire broke out. If so, then instead of grabbing the fire extinguisher and tackling the fire, JM grabbed the takings and ran.

Swiss bar employee who reportedly held sparkler unaware of dangers, family says

Cyane Panine, 24, died in the Crans Montana fire that is believed to have started when sparklers attached to champagne bottles set foam on the ceiling alight.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yes, in the Spain incident the employees knew to grab extinguishers and act quickly. Why did that not happen in this case? We dont know yet.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2011823438730608990

 

[Dotta]

"Experts growing new skin for Swiss fire victims.​

The Cell Production Centre at the Vaud University Hospital in Lausanne (CHUV)
is working flat out trying to grow new skin for badly-burned survivors of Switzerland's New Year bar fire tragedy.

The centre, with its skin production facility, is the only one of its size in Europe.

The centre
-- which the hospital says is the only one capable of producing such large amounts of skin tissue while complying with Swiss and European regulations --
works with healthy pieces of skin taken from the burn victims themselves,
to avoid the risk of skin being rejected.

'From 10 square centimetres of healthy skin,
we are able to produce between one and three batches of 2,600 sq cm,
which roughly represents the surface area of a back',
said the pharmacist technical manager.

He pointed out that this tissue,
created through cell reproduction,
does not have hair or sweat glands."

More in the link:

Experts growing new skin for Swiss fire victims

The Cell Production Centre at the Vaud University Hospital in Lausanne (CHUV) is working flat out trying to grow new skin for badly-burned survivors of Switzerland's New Year bar fire tragedy.

www.thelocal.ch

 

[MelmothTheLost]

It wasn't a tragedy because the staff quickly grabbed the fire extinguishers and put it out, which didn't happen at Le Constellation.

Indeed, but the point I was trying to make was that despite the Swiss tragedy, the people involved in the Madrid restaurant didn't stop and think, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea".

Which suggests to me that we will be hearing about another Swiss-type tragedy within the next 10 years.

 

[PrairieWind]

Indeed, but the point I was trying to make was that despite the Swiss tragedy, the people involved in the Madrid restaurant didn't stop and think, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea".

Which suggests to me that we will be hearing about another Swiss-type tragedy within the next 10 years.

Im not understanding your point. These Spanish employees knew where the fire extinguishers were and how to use them. And kudos for those that jumped up and took charge. I think we all agree that is what should happen. Why did it NOT happen in Switzerland?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Im not understanding your point. These Spanish employees knew where the fire extinguishers were and how to use them. And kudos for those that jumped up and took charge. I think we all agree that is what should happen. Why did it NOT happen in Switzerland?

We know that what went wrong in Switzerland was that sparklers were used in a situation where they came into contact with highly flammable material because the venue refurbishment had used inappropriate materials, emergency exits were not obvious and were locked, the staircase had been narrowed and was unable to support the crush of people trying to get up it at the same time and people didn't recognise the danger and react quickly enough. That's a combination of factors which created a perfect storm, but we don't know what the outcome would have been if only, say, 2 or 3 of those factors had occurred rather than all of them

In the Madrid case, staff managed to put the fire out before it got out of hand and nobody was injured, but things could have worked out differently if circumstances had been different, eg furnishings and textiles were not as fire-resistant as they were and as per required specification, fire extinguishers had not been available, staff had not been properly trained as to what to do etc.

The presence of the "sparklers" (ie, hand-held fireworks which burn for up to 4 minutes) indoors creates an unnecessary risk, and sooner or later something will go badly wrong again unless venues stop allowing them inside.

I may be seeing this from a Brit point of view, but in the UK a lot of clothing now sold is made of polyester, ie plastic, and much of it is coming into the country direct to the consumer very cheaply and of very poor quality via the likes of Temu and Shein or through Chinese owned and run front companies, rather than from an established retailer. In other words, it bypasses all UK standards for clothing, eg chemical residues in the fabric flammability of the fabric etc. I can foresee a situation in which a drunk waves a sparkler around and ends up setting fire to a cheap polyester dress and maiming some young person for life, if not worse.

There really is no good reason for allowing these things indoors.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2012082371433058345

 

[detective.moon]

Dozen vol haar gedoneerd voor slachtoffers cafébrand Zwitserland

Van het haar kunnen pruiken gemaakt worden voor mensen die brandwonden hebben opgelopen.

nos.nl

boxes full of hair donated to make wigs for the victims!

a hairdresser in the south of france offered to cut people’s hair for free if they would donate their hair. hairdressers in other countries decided to join too. the hair is going to a medical wig maker in switzerland, who usually makes wigs for people going through chemo etc. she has been receiving two or three boxes a day for the past week. she says she’s saving all of it, so there will be plenty of choice.

it’s not yet clear how many people will need a wig, but it has been said many of the injured have burned on their face, and since it was the ceiling that was on fire burning materials might have fallen on people’s heads.

i hadn’t thought about wigs at all, i’m glad to read about all these people joining in to help!