The , still on shock after the brutal fire in a bar during New Year’s night that, according to a first report, . A day after the tragedy, the authorities continue to investigate the origin of the incident, although everything indicates that it could have been a flare that ignited the roof of the premises and that the fire spread at full speed. That has become the main line of investigation, they reported in a press conference this Friday. “We assume that the fire was caused by flares attached to champagne bottles. From there, the ceiling caught fire,” said prosecutor Pilloud.
The owners of the Le Constellation bar have already been questioned, according to Pilloud. The authorities have indicated that they are investigating a series of renovations that were made in the premises where the fire occurred and the materials used in them, as well as whether they could have accelerated the spread of the flames. The Prosecutor’s Office has said that it is also investigating the emergency exits, the fire extinguishers and the occupancy of the bar. They have not yet filed criminal charges. Pilloud has said that depending on how the investigation develops, a case for negligent homicide may be opened.
In the last appearance, the local Police have given progress on the process of identifying the victims and have reported that 71 of the injured are from Switzerland, 14 from France, 11 from Italy and four from Serbia. A Bosnian, a Belgian, a Pole and a Portuguese are also among those affected. There are still 14 injured people whose nationality is unknown, according to the most updated figures. The authorities have announced that 50 patients with serious burns have been transferred out of Switzerland for treatment.
The testimonies of the young people who were inside reinforce this hypothesis. In one of the videos filmed at the premises and broadcast by the French press, several flares are seen lit on champagne bottles and one of them can be seen lighting up the roof of the premises. This version of the origin of the event has not yet been confirmed by the Swiss authorities. Investigators continue to analyze the interior of the Le Constellation establishment, where the tragedy occurred, and known in the area because it is frequented by very young people.
The urgency now is to be able to identify the victims as soon as possible, many of them foreigners, since it is a ski resort with a lot of tourism. At the moment, names have been given to 13 hospitalized Italians and another six remain missing, nine French people injured and eight people about whom there is no news. “At this time we cannot exclude that there are French victims in the fire,” said the French Foreign Ministry.
The injured have been transferred to hospitals in Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva, as those in the area are saturated, as well as to health centers in France, Italy and Germany. Poland has also offered hospital beds for the injured. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, also offered Switzerland all the help it needs this Friday. Of the 115 hospitalized, there are “between 80 and a hundred who are very serious,” the head of Security of the canton of Valais, Stéphane Ganzer, told RTL television. He added that most of them have not yet been able to be identified due to the severity of the burns. “The balance is terrible and could get worse,” he said.
Determining the identity of the victims will also take days, Ganzer warned at a press conference on Thursday. Several Frenchmen specialized in severe burns could help in the work, explained Matthias Reynard, president of the Government Council of Valais. He pointed out that many health workers who were on vacation “have returned to lend a hand. We are all on the front line” to try to identify the deceased and be able to deliver them to the families.
Among the parents, the anguish “is unbearable,” illustrated Laetitia, the mother of a 16-year-old boy, Arthur, who was inside the premises and about whom she has no news. “I have been looking for my son everywhere, in all the hospitals, for 30 hours. It is an unbearable wait,” he told the BFM network. “I don’t know what hospital or what morgue he is in,” he said. A crisis cell has been installed a few meters from the bar, where relatives of the victims and missing persons are cared for.
The fire started at half past one in the morning and caused a strong explosion, according to witness accounts, confirmed by the authorities. The fire spread quickly, trapping the young people inside. According to those present, the exit staircase was very narrow in the premises, which only had one emergency exit despite having a capacity for 300 people. Many tried to leave by breaking the windows of the premises.
