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Video posted online showed staff seen holding sparklers stuck in champagne bottles moments before flames and smoke burst into flames at the Switzerland bar, where 40 people died.
According to photos on social media, small fireworks were being set off near the basement bar’s low wooden ceiling covered with thin soundproof cloth.
A video shows the roof catching fire and flames spreading rapidly, but the revelers initially kept dancing, not realizing they were in a death trap.
A young man is seen trying to extinguish the fire with a big white cloth.
Officials investigating the fatal fire said they suspected that “sparkling or Bengal candles” caused the fire.
Witnesses later broadcast in various media stated that the Sparkler Parade was a regular “show” for patrons at the bar, which generally attracted a young crowd.
In the Swiss luxury ski resort town of Crans-Montana, flames spread at terrifying speed through a bar packed with New Year’s Eve partygoers.
Video taken as the roof caught fire captured a scene of terror: people scrambling and screaming in the darkness as smoke and flames rose around them.
– ‘explosion’ –
Elliot Alvarez, a local who had gone to an adjacent bar with friends, told AFP: “We got a call from a friend who was clearly nervous on the phone and said there was apparently an explosion.”
When he and his friends arrived at the scene, they found the place crawling with emergency responders and “people on the ground being treated, people coming out, they were burned”.
Police Commander Frederick Geisler told reporters that when officers were alerted to the situation “the red alarm, which activates the fire department, was immediately triggered”.
Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Thursday, passersby saw smoke coming from the center bar and called emergency services.
Less than a minute later, at 1:32, the first police patrol arrived at the scene. Firefighters and other emergency personnel are also moving in.
At that time, flames were spreading in the basement inside the bar. According to the video, smoke was everywhere, even filling the first floor.
Bystanders could see the flames, later describing scenes of chaos as people tried to break windows to escape and others, burned, came out into the street.
Young patrons at the bar, disturbed by the smoke and panic, tried to flee through the front door, resulting in a scuffle at the exit.
– ‘Cry for help’ –
Nathan, who was in the bar before the fire, saw burnt people leaving the site.
“They were asking for help, pleading for help,” he said.
Adrien, a young tourist from Dijon, France, described on TikTok how he “saw people breaking windows with chairs”.
“They were in terrible condition, covered in blood, their clothes had melted… it was a disaster.”
Leandre, who was outside, told the Blick newspaper of a “very sad” scene in which “people were burnt beyond recognition”.
“We tried our best to save them…tried to cover them because they had no clothes left,” he said.
“It was really hard. We tried to get people who were conscious, people who were unconscious, and get them to a warmer place.”
He said rescue workers were also “very overwhelmed” because everything happened so quickly, “people who were burnt alive”.
– ‘white sheet’ –
Edmond Coquet, a Belgian tourist, told AFP that he saw bodies “covered with white sheets” and “completely burnt young people who were still alive… screaming in pain”.
After filling emergency units at local hospitals, many of the injured were evacuated to Switzerland and beyond.
Umberto Marcucci told reporters outside a Milan hospital that he was “thanking God” that his son Manfredi, one of four Italians being treated at the hospital, survived.
“My son is sick but he is fine, he is alive,” he said. Manfredi, he said, was at Le Constellation with several friends and escaped “with burns on 30 to 40 percent of his body.”
“They told me that at a certain time, someone yelled ‘fire’ in the bar area… and from there the fire spread incredibly quickly.”
bar-apo/nl
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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