CHRISTOF FORSTER What should have been a night of revelry turned within a few minutes into a tragedy of historic proportions that continues to reverberate months later. Forty-one people lost their lives; over 110 were injured, most of them seriously. We know the blaze began at 1.27 in the morning. Teenagers and young adults from Switzerland and abroad were celebrating New Year’s Eve at “Le Constellation”, a bar in Crans-Montana. Mobile phone footage shows a waitress sitting on the shoulders of a male colleague and holding a bottle with sparklers in each hand. According to the later reports in the media, the cantonal police incident report said that it was customary at “Le Constellation” to serve bottles with sparklers attached to the neck. The waitress’s bottles are too high in the air. Flames begin to lick across the flammable foam ceiling of the basement bar. Party-goers begin to flee the smoke. A “flashover” occurs at 1.28 and 12 seconds, suddenly transforming the fire into an inferno. The conflagration shoots up as far as the door to the veranda on the ground floor. Thirty-seven people are stranded in the basement and die. Three other victims lose their lives on the ground floor. Temperatures of over 1,000 degrees When a fire heats its surroundings to around 300°C, combustible gases from the fire can ignite violently. This triggers what firefighters call a flashover, with temperatures potentially rising to over 1,000°C. This can result in death or horrific burn injuries for Deadly inferno leaves Switzerland reeling The devastating Crans-Montana fire claimed at least 41 lives, with over 100 injured, most of them seriously. People at home and abroad are asking how something like this could happen in a country that prides itself on rules, organisation and precision. anyone in close vicinity at the moment of ignition. Treating such injuries is extremely complicated and often takes months if not years. Many victims are likely to have breathed in toxic gases that can lead to severe lung damage. In a show of European solidarity, other countries offered Switzerland support, enabling some of the injured to be transferred to specialist burns units abroad. Switzerland has insufficient hospital capacity for an emergency of this nature. It was not only because the victims come from various countries that the Crans-Montana fire made headlines worldwide. The timing was particularly tragic: a moment of hope and optimism, barely an hour and a half into 2026. Most of the victims are young people, who not only had the new year but their whole Flowers and candles remembering the victims of the CransMontana bar fire. At least 41 people died celebrating the new year in the resort, with over 110 injured. Photo: Cyril Zingaro, Keystone Swiss Review / April 2026 / No. 2 20 News
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