Initial investigations suggest that the fire that devastated a bar at a Swiss ski resort during a New Year’s Eve party started when sparking candles attached to champagne bottles were brought too close to the ceiling, the local prosecutor said on Friday.
“Everything indicates that the fire started with the lit candles, or ‘Bengal lights’, which were attached to the champagne bottles. They were taken very close to the ceiling”, highlighted prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud at a press conference.
“From then on, a rapid and widespread conflagration spread,” he declared.
In any case, the prosecutor reinforced that this is the most likely hypothesis for what caused the fire, but it has not yet been confirmed.
Authorities are also investigating how sound insulation was used on the ceiling and that they were never informed about possible irregularities in the bar.
A video that went viral on social media and was verified by CNN shows the beginning of the fire, with the flames consuming the ceiling of the establishment.
Swiss police said “around 40” people died and 119 were injured, many seriously. It could take days for all victims to be identified.
The president of the Swiss Confederation, Guy Parmelin, said many of the victims were young.
Also this Friday, Pope Leo XIV
*with information from Reuters
