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

[MelmothTheLost]

the situation is a lot to handle for the hospitals and some staff has come in to work on their day off. other countries are offering to take patients too, from neighbouring countries to north macedonia and sweden.

I haven't head whether the UK has offered to take any patients but in one of the earliest reports about the burns victims a doctor was quoted as saying that many of them were too badly burned to transfer. I take this to mean that they are too ill to survive being transported any significant distance.

 

[detective.moon]

I haven't head whether the UK has offered to take any patients but in one of the earliest reports about the burns victims a doctor was quoted as saying that many of them were too badly burned to transfer. I take this to mean that they are too ill to survive being transported any significant distance.

dutch news reported that 14 injured have now been brought to poland (@Dotta ) and 4 to belgium. i’m not sure how it’s decided who goes where! i know that dutch hospitals have been preparing to take patients too if necessary, but none have been brought here so far.

 

[Dotta]

dutch news reported that 14 injured have now been brought to poland (@Dotta ) and 4 to belgium. i’m not sure how it’s decided who goes where! i know that dutch hospitals have been preparing to take patients too if necessary, but none have been brought here so far.

True.

From my country's MSM:

"Poland has offered 14 beds for those injured in the fire at the hospital in Siemianowice Śląskie.
This includes four beds in the intensive care unit
and ten for patients with minor injuries.

The Ministry of Interior and Administration's National Medical Institute is also involved in the assistance.

Poland has also offered support for two medical teams on site,
including assessing the condition of the patients.

Ministry of National Defense
has offered aircraft to transport those injured who could be transferred to Polish hospitals."

Szwajcaria prosi Polskę o pomoc

Polska jest gotowa pomóc Szwajcarii w związku z tragicznym pożarem, do którego doszło w sylwestrową noc w szwajcarskim kurorcie Crans-Montana. Ogień wybuchł w barze Le Constellation. Zginęło około 40 osób, a 115 zostało rannych. Premier Donald Tusk poinformował, że na prośbę Szwajcarii...

www.rmf24.pl

 

[Rikissa]

dutch news reported that 14 injured have now been brought to poland (@Dotta ) and 4 to belgium. i’m not sure how it’s decided who goes where! i know that dutch hospitals have been preparing to take patients too if necessary, but none have been brought here so far.

Usually in these kind of situations, patients who need specialist care at a burn ICU, and are stable enough to be transported, are taken to hospitals where there are available places, regardless of from where/which country they are. Those who can't be transported stay at the hospital they were brought to first. Later on when the patients are stable enough, they will be brought home to a hospital near where they live. That was how it was done after a large fire in Gothenburg in 1998, as there seldom are enough beds at a burn ICU in one country when there are many patients, so surrounding countries help with these cases.

A French football player was taken to a hospital in Germany, and not home to France, perhaps because the German hospital had available beds in their burn ICU at the moment.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

To be fair, this is pretty much the norm for both homes and small businesses in most of Europe. This in and of itself is not an indicator of anything sub-par (even more so in countries where many building companies have low reputations for using under-quilified cheap workforce from abroad that are used to lower standards).

I'm not saying you are wrong, but I would be very concerned if someone could open an entertainment venue to which large numbers of the general public are given access when conversion or building work has been done by unqualified persons. This isn't just about whether electrical wiring meets required standards but also about ensuring that suitable fire-retardant materials are chosen and installed, and that unsuitable cheap materials could not be used to save money. In any event, surely such premises would have been initially inspected by a qualified health and safety professional or surveyor and a certificate of compliance obtained in order for the premises to get an operating licence and necessary insurances, and then re-inspected on an ongoing basis. At least, that is what I would expect in the UK.

 

[Dotta]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but I would be very concerned if someone could open an entertainment venue to which large numbers of the general public are given access when conversion or building work has been done by unqualified persons. This isn't just about whether electrical wiring meets required standards but also about ensuring that suitable fire-retardant materials are chosen and installed, and that unsuitable cheap materials could not be used to save money. In any event, surely such premises would have been initially inspected by a qualified health and safety professional or surveyor and a certificate of compliance obtained in order for the premises to get an operating licence and necessary insurances, and then re-inspected on an ongoing basis. At least, that is what I would expect in the UK.

Interesting issue of necessary insurances!!!

JMO

 

[Dotta]

True.

From my country's MSM:

"Poland has offered 14 beds for those injured in the fire at the hospital in Siemianowice Śląskie.
This includes four beds in the intensive care unit
and ten for patients with minor injuries.

The Ministry of Interior and Administration's National Medical Institute is also involved in the assistance.

Poland has also offered support for two medical teams on site,
including assessing the condition of the patients.

Ministry of National Defense
has offered aircraft to transport those injured who could be transferred to Polish hospitals."

Szwajcaria prosi Polskę o pomoc

Polska jest gotowa pomóc Szwajcarii w związku z tragicznym pożarem, do którego doszło w sylwestrową noc w szwajcarskim kurorcie Crans-Montana. Ogień wybuchł w barze Le Constellation. Zginęło około 40 osób, a 115 zostało rannych. Premier Donald Tusk poinformował, że na prośbę Szwajcarii...

www.rmf24.pl

To add to my previous post.

Polish "Burn Treatment Center" in Siemianowice Śląskie
regularly accepts victims of mass accidents and fires,
offering, among others:
therapy in hyperbaric chambers
and skin grafts from their own Tissue Bank.

It is a leading center of this type in Poland.

The victims will be in "good hands".
The best specialists work there.

 

[Sjöberg]

if someone could open an entertainment venue to which large numbers of the general public are given access when conversion or building work has been done by unqualified persons

Yes, my reference was just about the hands-on work. Of course you have to contact an architect (who has to sign detailed plans of all materials used, every cm, everything) and several other specialists (for example, only licenced people can build fireplaces (in my country, unless it is a private single family home), also you need licensed professionals for "bigger" electrical stuff etc).

Just when I think of similar family businesses that I know of, then the family doing quite some renovating and building work themselves does not usually mean a desire to skip any requirements, it is often seen as just a part of the job of starting and running such a place.

 

[NuttMegg]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2006851889363611763

 

[justtrish]

I haven't head whether the UK has offered to take any patients but in one of the earliest reports about the burns victims a doctor was quoted as saying that many of them were too badly burned to transfer. I take this to mean that they are too ill to survive being transported any significant distance.

Last New Years Eve there was a horrible fireworks incident at a home on Oahu, Hawaii. People illegally lettting off fireworks, which is a HUGE thing there in Hawaii for New Years. They had fireworks stored in a garage and they were letting off fireworks out in the street by setting them on a table and lighting them. Well, someone knocked the table over and the firework shot sideways into the garage full of fireworks and they ignited and shot out of the garage into the area people were standing. 6 people ended up dying, but many many were injured and Oahu didn't have the ability to handle that many burn victims all at once. A couple days after the incident the US military helped transport burn victims to Arizona to a hospital there with the ability to care for them. They had like 5 or 6 medical personnel per patient and flew them on a C17. I believe the flight time was like 7 or so hours. The military is one entity that has the ability to transport people on ventilators and needing advanced life support care. That could be an option here to transport severely injured patients out to a hospital that can handle them.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

A couple days after the incident the US military helped transport burn victims to Arizona to a hospital there with the ability to care for them. They had like 5 or 6 medical personnel per patient and flew them on a C17. I believe the flight time was like 7 or so hours. The military is one entity that has the ability to transport people on ventilators and needing advanced life support care. That could be an option here to transport severely injured patients out to a hospital that can handle them.

Sure, those patients would have been transported because they had a realistic chance of surviving both the journey and subsequent treatment. What's not mentioned is those who were so badly injured they were going to die anyway, regardless of any medical intervention. They would have been put on a palliation pathway - heavily sedated and/or put into a coma to ease their deaths.

It's almost certain that amongst the injured in this case there will be some who are beyond recovery. The best anyone can do is to identify them as quickly as possible so that their families can be with them when they die.

It's also almost certain that there will be some who survive with such appalling life-changing disfigurements and disabilities that they come to wish they had died in the first place.

 

[bmacmillan1]

Trying to work out how the sparklers were placed in the champagne bottles - were they empty bottles with the sparkler placed inside and lit and then held up towards the ceiling? I can understand how one spark could cause a fire to start if the ceiling was made out of flammable material

 

[Dotta]

Press Conference ​

Fire 'started from sparkler candles', official suggests​

Valais attorney general Beatrice Pilloud says the prosecution service is
"sparing no effort in order to determine the circumstances of this tragic event".

"It would appear that the fire started from sparkler candles, otherwise known as flares,
which were placed on top of champagne bottles,"
she says.

"These flares were taken too close to the ceiling.
This led to what is referred to a flashover incident,
where the fire spread very rapidly."

Videos have been obtained and several people have been interviewed,
she adds.

The people spoken to include the two French managers of the bar.

"We will be able to investigate whether any individuals bear criminal liability for this incident,"
she says.

"And if this is the case and if these people are alive,
all the investigations will be opened for
- fire by negligence,
- homicide by negligence
- and injuries by negligence."

Switzerland fire live: Police identify probable cause - as new photo emerges of moment before blaze

Swiss officials and police are giving an update on the investigation into the deadly bar fire in the ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve. An Italian teen golfer was earlier named as the first of at least 40 victims. Watch and follow live.

news.sky.com

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Trying to work out how the sparklers were placed in the champagne bottles - were they empty bottles with the sparkler placed inside and lit and then held up towards the ceiling? I can understand how one spark could cause a fire to start if the ceiling was made out of flammable material

It appears that they were taped to the outside of the necks of the bottles.

 

[Elley Mae]

Two witnesses allege that the fire was ignited by sparklers attached to champagne bottles. "There were waitresses carrying champagne bottles with sparklers on them, and they carried them close to the ceiling, which caused it to catch fire," one told French network BFMTV.

Picture shows precise moment sparkler starts fire in Swiss bar leaving 47 dead

An explosion in the basement of Le Constellation nightclub in Crans-Montana claimed at least 47 lives during New Year celebrations

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

 

[Yellowbelly]

An article about fire safety rules in Switzerland. Translated ibto English with Google Translate.

Suisse. Drame de Crans-Montana : les règles de sécurité ont-elles été respectées ?

La tragédie de Nouvel an à Crans-Montana, identique à d’autres drames du même type dans des bars ou discothèques bondés, dans d’autres pays, pose ...

www-republicain--lorrain-fr.translate.goog

From the article above -

Establishments with a capacity of up to 100 people must have an exit with a minimum clearance of 1.20 meters. For establishments with a capacity of up to 1,000 people, at least two independent exits are required.

How many people were down in the basement bar? If it was more than 100, then it would appear that somebody has broken the rules.

 

[detective.moon]

From the article above -

Establishments with a capacity of up to 100 people must have an exit with a minimum clearance of 1.20 meters. For establishments with a capacity of up to 1,000 people, at least two independent exits are required.

How many people were down in the basement bar? If it was more than 100, then it would appear that somebody has broken the rules.

i’ve read before that the bar had a capacity of 300 people.

 

[Cryptic]

Two witnesses allege that the fire was ignited by sparklers attached to champagne bottles.

My guess is that there are two general ways the sparklers were brought into the club:

1. Management decided to incorperate them into the New Years Eve fun and made them part of the night ala sparkler enhanced Champagne bottles that are distributed at midnight.

2. Individual reveler(s) or employees impulsively smuggle one, or more sparklers into the club with out management knowing. There are plenty of sparklers variations that would be hard for metal detectors to find and would also slip by moderate pat down type searches. At midnight, the sparklers are lit and paraded around.

Earlier reports leaned towards option 2 as they described one couple with a sparkler. This report, however, suggests that a number of Champagne bottles specifically had been enhanced with sparklers. That could point towards option 1.

 

[detective.moon]

these pictures were shared by french media - you see the start of the fire on the ceiling and there’s clearly multiple people with sparklers

i also came across this where you see the fire spreading. warning that it can be upsetting to watch. Schokkend beeld van ooggetuigen toont hoe brand zich verspreidde

with what we know now, it’s so odd to see people still dancing and laughing and filming while the ceiling is on fire. i remember being when i was that age i wouldn’t really see the risks of things, would feel like nothing bad would happen to me, and a lot of people there probably being very drunk probably doesn’t help either! and there’s probably something about other people acting like things are fine that makes people think they don’t have to worry? still it’s very unsettling.

 

[Elley Mae]

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