Switzerland - "Several dozen" dead and about 100 injured in explosion in bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss ski resort, 1 January 2026

[Dotta]

---

https://twitter.com/x/status/2007172458978124268

"Mr Moretti, who was not in the venue,
has now spoken out for the first time since the blaze, telling Swiss outlet 20 Minuten:

'We can neither sleep nor eat,
we are all very unwell'.

The bar owner also defended the safety of the nightclub.

Mr Moretti claimed that the club had been inspected three times in the past 10 years, adding:

'Everything had been done according to regulation'.

He emphasised the couple
- known as powerful figures in the Swiss hospitality industry -
are cooperating with authorities, adding:

'We will do everything we can to help clarify the causes.
We are doing everything in our power.
Our lawyers are also involved'.

Investigators consider pursuing manslaughter charges."

 

[Sarahlou]

I read that Switzerland actually has one of the lowest rates of fire deaths in the world, which makes this tragic event even more shocking.

 

[PrairieWind]

---

https://twitter.com/x/status/2007172458978124268

"Mr Moretti, who was not in the venue,
has now spoken out for the first time since the blaze, telling Swiss outlet 20 Minuten:

'We can neither sleep nor eat,
we are all very unwell'.

The bar owner also defended the safety of the nightclub.

Mr Moretti claimed that the club had been inspected three times in the past 10 years, adding:

'Everything had been done according to regulation'.

He emphasised the couple
- known as powerful figures in the Swiss hospitality industry -
are cooperating with authorities, adding:

'We will do everything we can to help clarify the causes.
We are doing everything in our power.
Our lawyers are also involved'.

Investigators consider pursuing manslaughter charges."

Inspected 3 times in 10 years? Is that normal? Inspections by whom? A bar here would have inspections every 6 months or so by various entities.

 

[Dotta]

DBM

 

[NuttMegg]

Inspected 3 times in 10 years? Is that normal? Inspections by whom? A bar here would have inspections every 6 months or so by various entities.

One of those links just posted here says that it was classified as a lounge, not a nightclub. So maybe that would receive fewer inspections. But 3 in ten years sounds ridiculous.

 

[Eloise]

Thanks.
This basement looks like .... ummm....a bomb shelter.
It gives me creeps
But then, I usually keep clear of such suffocating places.
Really folks, mind your safety when visiting.
It seems one can only depend on one's own common sense
as safety precautions seem to mean nothing in some places.
Rules seem not to apply to some.
Some think they are above the rules.

JMO

agreed. Basement venues where the only means of exit is the staircase? Absolutely not. If there are no emergency exits, no thanks. I realise your average teenager is not going to have that thought in their mind though, and that's why regulations need to exist - and be followed.

Also
I pity the staff wearing masks/helmets.
Jeez!!!
How uncomfortable!!

This is really morbid but I wondered if the reports of people with 'no faces' left, were the people in masks. If they caught fire and they were made of plastic...

 

[Serononin]

And this is where the rubber meets the road. You can have very stringent regulations, but they don't mean anything if you they aren't being enforced and followed. You can see this everywhere in the world, we certainly see it in the US. Someone knows someone, or the department is overworked so they don't actually do the inspections, they just do it on paper. Or it is a case where politically they want to give a break so some group, don't want to displace them so they cut some corners... Its like the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in San Fran. The violations are known, but officials just choose to turn a blind eye for one reason or another. Those officials, the government workers/inspectors, they HAVE to be held accountable as well.

The ban on fireworks in Ireland is a good example of this tbh. Great in principle, but fairly useless in practice because people can (and do) drive over the border into NI, stock up on UK fireworks and take them home

 

[Dotta]

Wow!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2007244927093096823

"A hero banker saved ten youngsters from the Swiss ski resort inferno
by forcing open an emergency door
after his teenage daughter rang him pleading for help.

Paolo Campolo, 55,
raced from his home in Crans-Montana to Le Constellation bar,
where he prized open a side door to allow panicked revellers to run for their lives.

Mr Campolo, a Swiss-Italian financial analyst,
rushed to the scene after his distraught daughter called him to say her boyfriend and friends were trapped inside while she was waiting to enter.

With the main entrance blocked up by people cramming to escape,
he identified a door off to the side and forced it open.

Speaking from his hospital bed,
where he is being treated for smoke inhalation,
the heroic father recalled the harrowing scene that lay behind the door.

'There were several bodies all around. Alive but burnt.
Some conscious, others not'.

Working with another man,
Mr Campolo managed to pull open the other door,
behind which he could see
'hands and faces',
and several people immediately spilled out.

'I didn't think about the pain, the smoke, the danger.
I pulled kids out with my bare hands.
One after the other.
They were alive but injured, many of them seriously'."

 

[NuttMegg]

Wow!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2007244927093096823

"A hero banker saved ten youngsters from the Swiss ski resort inferno
by forcing open an emergency door
after his teenage daughter rang him pleading for help.

Paolo Campolo, 55,
raced from his home in Crans-Montana to Le Constellation bar,
where he prized open a side door to allow panicked revellers to run for their lives.

Mr Campolo, a Swiss-Italian financial analyst,
rushed to the scene after his distraught daughter called him to say her boyfriend and friends were trapped inside while she was waiting to enter.

With the main entrance blocked up by people cramming to escape,
he identified a door off to the side and forced it open.

Speaking from his hospital bed,
where he is being treated for smoke inhalation,
the heroic father recalled the harrowing scene that lay behind the door.

'There were several bodies all around. Alive but burnt.
Some conscious, others not'.

Working with another man,
Mr Campolo managed to pull open the other door,
behind which he could see
'hands and faces',
and several people immediately spilled out.

'I didn't think about the pain, the smoke, the danger.
I pulled kids out with my bare hands.
One after the other.
They were alive but injured, many of them seriously'."

View attachment 634670

I saw that image on a video on twitter but not msm. So I couldn't bring it over. The guy does pull people thru, one was a young girl in a black dress, burned in the face and shoulders, but still able to run.

Another image I'm looking for in case someone finds it, did the smaller door , the glass one, at the top of the stairs open outward or inward? It could be that the glass door (to outside) at the top was narrower than the stairway?

 

[Kittypoo]

They may well of been in violation of several things.

But, the "they" might not of been inclined to think about various standards, codes and laws at the time. Some reports mention sparklers, others imply that there could have been only one couple. The sparkler(s) may have been "smuggled" into the club by young people with out the owners knowing.

In either case, the "They" could well consist of:

A young couple / people having sparklers on them and then making impulsive decisions as midnight struck on New Years Eve.

Unlikely as seen earlier in this thread the oversized sparklers were shown in the clubs own promotional material

 

[Charlot123]

It's amazing no one cared about the risk and that this hasn't happened there before.



It remains to be seen if the staff received fire safety training and if so, what it involved. Do these types of venues actually practice evacuating a crowd?



Whomever renovated the ceiling and used highly flammable material is responsible for that part of it, IMO. We don't who that is, however.

Whomever approved use of sparklers in the venue is responsible for that part. Etc.

The owners losing a business is no big deal. Losing the business is not even the beginning of taking responsibility, in my view. They are sitting safe and unharmed in their nice home right now, so.

Well, the wife got burned, too.

 

[Dotta]

I saw that image on a video on twitter but not msm. So I couldn't bring it over. The guy does pull people thru, one was a young girl in a black dress, burned in the face and shoulders, but still able to run.

DM reports:

"Footage posted online appears to show a man forcing open a door to the right of the main entrance
and a clearly distressed young woman immediately bursting out,
though it's not clear whether this is Mr Campolo."

Nevertheless, IMO,
this photo shows a decent, brave and good Man helping the victims.
It could be Mr C. or another man.
But it really doesn't matter to me.

This photo is a symbol of Decency and Heroism.
Respect to the Man, whoever he is!

JMO

 

[NuttMegg]

DM reports:

"Footage posted online appears to show a man forcing open a door to the right of the main entrance
and a clearly distressed young woman immediately bursting out,
though it's not clear whether this is Mr Campolo."

Nevertheless, IMO,
this photo shows a decent, brave and good Man helping the victims.
It could be Mr C. or another man.
But it really doesn't matter to me.

This photo is a symbol of Decency.
Respect to the Man, whoever he is!

JMO

Thanks for finding/posting that. He is clearly due respect.

 

[504cats]

This whole conversation seems a little Victim blamey. As a rhodey this was so clearly a terrible mirror of the station nightclub fire; I’d like everyone to quit talking about sparklers and pyrotechnics and instead focus on the acoustic foam. A room meant to house crowds should be able to handle a small fire with enough time to allow people to evacuate, regardless of its source. If the source was an electrical short or something, the room would have still instantly flashed over as it did due to the highly flammable and illegal (in this situation) acoustic foam.
TLDR you shouldn't be able to walk into any establishment meant to house crowds and instantly light the whole ceiling on fire with a sparkler. The only ones at fault is whoever called for the foam to be installed.

 

[Yellowbelly]

Fire alarm or sprinkler system? I guess we will get to learn a bit about what building/fire codes in Switzerland are like. In the videos I have seen I don't even see anyone trying to use a fire extinguisher.

I was thinking that as well. In the Dail Mail article further up the thread one young man is quoted saying that he tried to throw water at the fire. In one of the videos you can see someone try attacking the fire with some sort of blanket or towel. If people had time to do that, then somebody had time to grab a fire extinguisher, but nobody did, which begs the question, was there one in the basement bar? I can understand why you might not have one in a public area of the club, in order to prevent drunken patrons misusing it, but surely you would have one behind the bar, and train the staff to use it.

 

[NuttMegg]

This whole conversation seems a little Victim blamey. As a rhodey this was so clearly a terrible mirror of the station nightclub fire; I’d like everyone to quit talking about sparklers and pyrotechnics and instead focus on the acoustic foam. A room meant to house crowds should be able to handle a small fire with enough time to allow people to evacuate, regardless of its source. If the source was an electrical short or something, the room would have still instantly flashed over as it did due to the highly flammable and illegal (in this situation) acoustic foam.
TLDR you shouldn't be able to walk into any establishment meant to house crowds and instantly light the whole ceiling on fire with a sparkler. The only ones at fault is whoever called for the foam to be installed.

If you read back over the thread, posters have criticized the use of acoustic foam practically from post #1. I sure don't see any victim blaming.

 

[Dotta]

This whole conversation seems a little Victim blamey. As a rhodey this was so clearly a terrible mirror of the station nightclub fire; I’d like everyone to quit talking about sparklers and pyrotechnics and instead focus on the acoustic foam. A room meant to house crowds should be able to handle a small fire with enough time to allow people to evacuate, regardless of its source. If the source was an electrical short or something, the room would have still instantly flashed over as it did due to the highly flammable and illegal (in this situation) acoustic foam.
TLDR you shouldn't be able to walk into any establishment meant to house crowds and instantly light the whole ceiling on fire with a sparkler. The only ones at fault is whoever called for the foam to be installed.

What's more - ONE fire extinguisher should have ended the initial small fire on the ceiling.
But where was this equipment???
Was the staff even trained how to use it??
If it was there, that is.

JMO

 

[NuttMegg]

I was thinking that as well. In the Dail Mail article further up the thread one young man is quoted saying that he tried to throw watercat the fire. In one of the videos you can see someone try attacking the fire with some sort of blanket or towell. If people had time to do that, then somebody had time to grab a fire extinguisher, but nobody did, which begs the question, was there one in the basement bar? I can understand why you might not have one in a public area of the club, in order to prevent drunken patrons misusing it, but surely you would have one behind the bar, and train the staff to use it.

There sure was an extensive system of pipes in the ceiling, below the foam. I wonder what they were for.

 

[Charlot123]

This whole conversation seems a little Victim blamey. As a rhodey this was so clearly a terrible mirror of the station nightclub fire; I’d like everyone to quit talking about sparklers and pyrotechnics and instead focus on the acoustic foam. A room meant to house crowds should be able to handle a small fire with enough time to allow people to evacuate, regardless of its source. If the source was an electrical short or something, the room would have still instantly flashed over as it did due to the highly flammable and illegal (in this situation) acoustic foam.
TLDR you shouldn't be able to walk into any establishment meant to house crowds and instantly light the whole ceiling on fire with a sparkler. The only ones at fault is whoever called for the foam to be installed.

Both.

- a building that can embrace up to 300 people is built not according to the proper codes
- an inspection that neglects checking the fire hazards
- no additional exits, exits blocked or not properly marked. Why did people have to unblock the exit from the outside? Was it locked???
- a lounge may have relaxed requirements only if it is a room lounge. Given that "the lounge" has no restrictions in terms of the size, it will be hard to understand the need to "relax" the requirements about the exits
- finally, yes, use of fireworks inside a crammed bar. It is not victim blaming. It was allowed by the owners and... sorry, they are not victims.

 

[Charlot123]

I saw that image on a video on twitter but not msm. So I couldn't bring it over. The guy does pull people thru, one was a young girl in a black dress, burned in the face and shoulders, but still able to run.

Another image I'm looking for in case someone finds it, did the smaller door , the glass one, at the top of the stairs open outward or inward? It could be that the glass door (to outside) at the top was narrower than the stairway?

If he had to identify the door and "force it open" it is damning to the owners...