Survivors of the catastrophic bar fire in the upmarket Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are receiving treatment in specialized trauma centers in various European nations, while authorities say many of the dead were so severely injured that naming the victims could take days or weeks.
About 40 people were killed and 115 hurt when the blaze ripped through a New Year’s Eve celebration in the packed Constellation bar and basement nightclub.
“The first objective is to assign names to all the victims,” said local official Nicolas Féraud.
The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, described the fire “a disaster of unparalleled, terrifying proportions” as he described the heavy human cost. “Behind these figures are individuals, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or irrevocably damaged,” Parmelin remarked at a news conference.
Such was the severity were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said identification work was exceptionally difficult. Families of unaccounted-for young people issued pleas for news of their loved ones and foreign embassies scrambled to find out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst disasters to strike modern Switzerland.
A regional leader, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said forensic specialists were using dental records and DNA samples for the task. “All this work needs to be done because the findings is so distressing and sensitive that no detail can be told to the families unless we are completely certain,” he explained.
Despite having one of the world’s most advanced medical systems, Switzerland’s local hospitals quickly became overwhelmed in the hours after the fire. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with dedicated burn centers in Zurich and Lausanne and six were transferred to Geneva, as reported by news agencies.
Many more of the injured were transported to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU said it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about offering support.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, stated online he had offered his country’s help as clinics in Paris and Lyon admitted victims, while Sweden and North Macedonia also said they had hospital beds available.
Italy and France are among the countries that have said some of their nationals are unaccounted for and Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland said the Italian foreign minister would travel to Crans-Montana.
Swiss officials have said about 40 people were killed but another nation has put the death toll at 47, based on preliminary information.
A regional health and safety official expressed surprise on Friday he was “taken aback” by the higher number. “This is not the same number that we have,” he told a radio station.
The Italian ambassador said the majority of the injured had now been named. Several Italians are still missing and more than a dozen hospitalised. Three Italians were returned home on Thursday with more to follow.
The French foreign ministry said several nationals were among the injured and additional individuals remained missing. Australia has said a citizen was hurt.
Loved ones have been scrambling to find their loved ones, using social media to share images of those unaccounted for.
Paulo Martins, a French citizen resident in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend narrowly missed being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was really in shock,” Martins told reporters.
A friend of his 17-year-old son had been transferred for treatment in Germany with severe burns covering a third of his body, Martins stated.
Eleonore, 17, started the year with a frantic search for friends who have been missing since the fire. Outside the bar, now covered by white tarpaulins and a barrier of temporary barriers, she said she had not heard from them since New Year’s Eve.
“We took loads of photos [and] we put them on Instagram, Facebook, every social network possible to try to find them,” she said. “But there’s no news. No response. We called the parents. Nothing. Even the parents haven't heard anything.”
She and a friend managed to get news that one friend was in a coma in a hospital in Lausanne.
The director of the city’s teaching hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 severely injured patients, most between 16 to 26.
“Patients are being stabilised and moved to the operating theatre or to intensive care units,” she told a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the medical care will be long and intense, lasting several weeks or even months.”
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