Around 40 dead, over 100 injured in Swiss bar fire; toll likely to increase

Zurich: Around 40 people are believed to have died in a bar fire that broke out in southwestern Switzerland, with the number of injured rising to 119, police said at a news conference.

Among the injured, the identities of 113 people have been confirmed. But some European countries still reported missing nationals in the fire, which broke out overnight at "Le Constellation" bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort in Valais Canton.

Swiss authorities said the death toll is expected to rise in the coming days. Stephane Ganzer, a regional health and safety official, told the French radio station RTL that 80 to 100 of the injured are in a critical condition, with many likely to die from severe burns.

The alarm was raised at the bar at around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday local time, minutes after the fire broke out. A total of 41 ambulances, 13 helicopters, and more than 150 medical personnel were deployed to the scene, local police said.

An area of 100 meters around the bar had been cordoned off. Crowds of people stood hugging and crying near the police line, where flowers and candles for the victims had been laid, reports Xinhua news agency.

A young Swiss man named Nathan, visibly shaken, told Xinhua near the scene that four of his friends had died in the fire. "Three are still missing," he said, "I don't even know which hospitals they are in. It's all so tragic... It hurts because I never got the chance to say goodbye to them."

Anthony Cina, 17, was on vacation from the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. He told Xinhua that he had not been able to enter the bar on the night of the tragedy as it was full. He was waiting in line with his friends when he saw smoke, then fire. "I saw a lot of people then running out that were like, burnt, and everything was just shocking," he said. (IANS)

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