Witnesses Describe the Blaze That Claimed 40 Lives in Switzerland
As Bruno Martins walked through his Swiss mountain village after midnight on New Year’s Day, he anticipated reuniting with old friends at one of their beloved spots. Instead, the 17-year-old found Le Constellation, a two-story bar favored by the younger locals, engulfed in flames and surrounded by police. A crowd was scrambling to flee the inferno, he noted. One of his friends sustained severe burns and was transported to the hospital. Others were unaccounted for, he indicated. “It was absolute chaos, people were trampling each other,” Mr. Martins recounted in an interview. “It’s unbelievable,” he remembered thinking. “It’s a bar we know all too well.”The fire, which Switzerland’s president labeled one of the most tragic events in the nation’s history, swept through the bar, trapping numerous customers inside, resulting in around 40 fatalities, and leaving the quiet resort village of Crans-Montana in utter disbelief. “When we see such news, we think it’s impossible for this to happen to us,” Mr. Martins shared while standing near the bar’s ruins on Thursday evening. “It’s a small, peaceful village where everyone knows one another.”For the village’s teenagers and those in their early twenties, the tragedy felt especially poignant. Le Constellation was their gathering spot, stated Sofia Degraye, 22. It served as the primary venue in town where younger individuals could enjoy affordable drinks. During quieter moments, they would congregate there for billiards or hot chocolate, she described. On lively nights, such as New Year’s Eve, it resembled more of a nightclub.Unlike other establishments in Crans-Montana, Le Constellation typically did not enforce an entrance fee, which attracted a notably youthful audience, Ms. Degraye remarked. “It really makes you think: It could have been me,” Ms. Degraye, who had returned to Crans-Montana for the holiday season, said. “You feel that guilt. Why did it happen that night and not on the nights I was present?”Hundreds of mourners, many of them young, assembled near the roped-off bar area on Thursday evening. Some sought comfort in community, while others awaited updates about missing family members.Survivors often possessed limited information regarding the victims’ conditions. Many individuals who had been inside the bar were severely burned and difficult to identify, and several were transported for care to hospitals across different parts of the country.Johnny Marcelli, 27, a waiter who noticed smoke emanating from the devastated bar, was anxiously awaiting news about a friend who worked there. He had not had any contact with her since the fire began.Lucas Batista, 20, a local roofer, was visibly emotional as he embraced friends at the memorial. He had come to place flowers for a friend, a 23-year-old barmaid at Le Constellation.Mr. Batista was attending a party at a friend’s residence when he first heard about the fire, he shared. By morning, he learned that the barmaid had been admitted to intensive care. Later, he received a call from another friend who informed him of her passing. “I feel awful,” Mr. Batista said.Ms. Degraye revealed that she had been at the bar two nights prior, and one of her closest friends would have been present on the night of the fire had it not been for a last-minute decision. She wondered, she expressed, how a night that symbolizes a fresh beginning could turn into such a calamity. “A celebration of love, light, a new year, and new hope,” Ms. Degraye articulated. “All of those innocent people there, they were just kids, out to celebrate.”“All of it lost — and in an instant,” she remarked.
Published: 2026-01-01 22:59:00
source: www.nytimes.com
