The luminous fountains, the fire and the flashover: the causes of the massacre in Crans-Montana

It will take at least a couple of weeks to identify the victims of the bar fire in Crans-Montana, where 47 people, all very young, lost their lives.

A heartbreaking wait for family and friends of those still alive missing while it is not yet clear what it has triggered the fire at Le Constellation in which 115 people were injured, 80 of them seriously.

The testimony of the witnesses

I testimonial of the disaster they described scenes of panic and chaos, as the boys tried to break windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.

“We tried to contact our friends. We took a lot of photos and posted them on Instagram, Facebook and all the social networks we could to try to find them,” says Eleonore, 17. “But there was no response.”

Il exact number of people present at the bar when it burned is not yet clear. Le Constellation had a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 on the terrace.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who took office yesterday, called the fire “a calamity of terrifying and unprecedented proportions” and ordered that the flags are at half-mast for five days, but has not yet mentioned any responsibility for the heavy toll of the fire.

“Behind these figures there are faces, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or changed forever,” Parmelin said in a press conference. “Given the international nature of the locality of Crans, we can expect that among the victims there will also be foreign citizens”, said the local police commander, Frederic Gisler, confirming what has been known since the first hours of the disaster.

6 Italians missing, 10 hospitalized

There are 6 of them the Italians still missing. “There is still no information of any kind available about them”.
We learn this from a note from the Farnesina, according to which the compatriots there are 10 in hospitaleven if we are not sure of the conditions of two of them or in which facility they are hospitalized.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that three patients have been transferred to Italy, al Niguarda of Milan.
Antonio Tajani he is expected this morning in the Swiss mountain resort “to visit the families of the compatriots who were involved and to bring the solidarity of the Italian Government”.

The Italian ambassador to Switzerland anticipated that upon Tajani’s arrival in Crans-Montana, the Sion police will share the full situation of the Italians.

The others injured

Among the injured there are nine French citizensbut another eight have not yet been traced and, as the Foreign Ministry said, “it cannot be ruled out that they are among the victims”. Among the injured is a 19-year-old FC Metz player, Tahirys Dos Santos.

Authorities refused to speculate on the causes of the tragedystating only that it was not an attack. According to various testimonies, the fire was started by light fountains mounted on champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a customary “show” for customers who had ordered something special at their tables.

The canton’s chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said that investigators will verify whether the bar complied with the safety standards and had the required number of exits.

Several sources have reported that the bar’s owners are French citizens: a couple from Corsica who, according to a relative, are safe but unreachable. The injured were transported throughout Switzerland and neighboring countries.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, declared that she is in contact with the Swiss authorities to provide medical assistance. Deeply saddened by the Crans-Montana fire through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, while the French President Emmanuel Macron he said some of the injured were being treated in French hospitals.

Instagram profile opened to get news of the missing

They are Instagram A profile was created to collect appeals from family members looking for their loved ones missing in the Crans-Montana fire. On the page at this address https://www.instagram.com/cransmontana.avisderecherche/ photos and messages follow one another from those seeking news of the missing.