Horror photographs present contained in the fire-ravaged bar after NYE blaze killed ‘at the least 40’
Pictures show the interior of the Le Constellation Bar and Lounge in Crans-Montana, Valais in Switzerland after a horrifying fire in the early hours of New Year’s Day
The inside of the bar where at least 40 people were killed in a horrific New Year’s Eve fire has been pictured.
Photos show the interior of the Le Constellation Bar and Lounge in Crans-Montana, Valais in Switzerland. They show cushions scattered around the room, with a single white trainer left abandoned in the middle.
Emergency services are also seen standing outside the bar, which looks as if it was left gutted by the devastating blaze. Police said that dozens of people are presumed dead and about 100 injured from the incident at the Swiss Alps resort in the early hours of today (January 1).
A witness claimed that the staircase leading out of the nightclub was extremely narrow as people rushed to escape the deadly blaze.
Valais Canton police commander Frederic Gisler said that work is under way to identify the victims and inform their families but “that will take time and for the time being it is premature to give you a more precise figure”.
Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage. Pilloud said: “At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack.”
Helicopters and ambulances rushed to the scene to assist victims, including some from different countries, officials said.
Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside when they saw a barman carrying a barmaid on his shoulders. The barmaid was holding a lit candle in a bottle that set fire to the wooden ceiling. The flames quickly spread and collapsed the ceiling, they told the broadcaster.
One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.
Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.
Officials called the blaze an “embrasement generalise,” a firefighting term describing how a blaze can trigger the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently and cause what English-speaking firefighters would call a flashover or a backdraft.
“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Renard, head of the regional government.
The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theatre at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, Renard said. In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.
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