The disaster in Switzerland: an Israeli citizen is declared missing

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that an Israeli citizen, who holds an additional citizenship, is identified as missing in the disaster that occurred at the “La Constellation” bar in the ski town of Crans-Montana in Switzerland. At the moment, the identity of the missing woman has not been released, nor has it been said whether she belongs to the local Jewish community, of which three women are still identified as missing.

The authorities continue to engage in the struggle to identify the victims and the injured in the heavy disaster in which at least 40 people were killed. The fire broke out during the New Year celebrations, leaving behind dozens of injured people in a serious condition.

Following the fire, the local medical authorities in Switzerland, in cooperation with neighboring countries such as Italy, Germany and France, are engaged in transferring the injured to additional hospitals. 22 seriously injured have already been transferred to the University Hospital in Lausanne, where the medical condition of some of them is defined as critical, and they are under intensive care. However, there is a problem in identifying many of the injured, and the families are still waiting for answers about their loved ones.

According to testimonies from locals and relatives, in many cases no information was provided immediately regarding the condition of the wounded, since not all the wounded were immediately identified by the security teams. As mentioned, sources in the local community point out that there are three Jewish women, all known from the local Chabad community, who are defined as missing, and there is no information about their condition and it is possible that they were transferred to a hospital in a neighboring country.

In addition to the rescue and identification operations carried out by the authorities in Switzerland, a special delegation of the Zaka organization left Israel to help identify the victims and the missing. The Israeli team works in cooperation with the local police in order to locate the missing, especially from the local Jewish community.

The Jewish community, together with Chabad people, are working around the clock to offer support to the affected families. In addition, they prepared hundreds of kosher food dishes for the affected families from within the Jewish community, but also for other non-Jews who were affected by the disaster. The hundreds of dishes were specially prepared to help those who found themselves in a situation of continued uncertainty.

The sudden and devastating fire shocked Switzerland, and the investigation into the disaster continues. While officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire, there have been reports that it may be a safety failure related to the use of party fireworks in combination with flammable insulation materials at the site. The experts point out that if the material on the ceiling was old and worn, this may explain the rapid spread of the flames.

The disaster caught the entire country off guard, and the medical teams and investigators continue to face difficult challenges in identifying the victims. Friends and relatives of the victims keep contacting the emergency services for updates, while churches across Switzerland held ceremonies in memory of the victims, and a call was made to maintain national solidarity with the families of the dead.