The flames and smoke prevented escape and made rescues difficult

This drama, unprecedented in the canton of Valais, where the main ski resorts in Switzerland are located, has left at least 40 dead and 115 injured, according to official information.

The flames and smoke prevented those who were in the party area, in the basement of the premises, from escaping via the stairs that led to the terrace, and at the same time hindered the attempts of young people who were queuing outside the premises to enter and rescue the victims, according to what they told Efe who were there.

A spontaneous vigil was held at night very close to the scene of the event, with dozens of families and young people arriving to place flowers, dolls and, in some cases, hug each other, confused and crying at the magnitude of what happened.

Most of the injured have serious burns.s, in some cases up to 60% of the body, which will require months and even years to be treated, according to specialists from the Lausanne Hospital, which has a unit specialized in these cases and to which several of the people in critical condition have been transferred.

Ryana young resident in Montana Crans, He says that he was at another party a few meters from the damaged bar and that he saw how several people put themselves at risk trying to help those trapped.some of which could be rescued just in time.

Other witnesses have spoken of “scenes of horror”, of people leaving half burned and collapsing on the sidewalk.

Solidarity

At the same time, acts of solidarity have come to light, with many injured people being treated and taken to the hospital by neighbors, despite the fact that the police, firefighters and lifeguards took a few minutes to arrive after the first alarm was issued at 01:30 (local time).

In addition to the flames and temperatures, The emission of toxic smoke caused by the combustion of plastic material has complicated the situation for the injuredso many also have serious respiratory problems, commented the head of the Health Department of the canton of Valais, Mathias Reynard, in a press conference.

The Attorney General of Valais, Beatrice Pilloudindicated that the main clue to the tragedy consists of “a widespread fire that caused an explosion,” although the original cause of the fire has not yet been officially determined.

Víctoria, a young woman who was able to escape the flames, pointed out that The fire started after a young woman climbed onto the shoulders of a waiter with a bottle of champagne with flares.which would have caused the first flames on the roof of the premises.

Faced with insistent questions about respect for security measures and escape routes from the damaged premises, the prosecutor maintained that she could not comment because the investigation is still ongoing.

At the moment and for reasons related to the investigation, some remains of victims are still inside the burned premises, police sources indicated.

Pilloud maintained that “It is difficult to know how long it will take to identify” the fatalitiesfor which an important device of specialists in legal medicine has been launched.

He assured in this sense that many efforts are being made to return the remains of the deceased to their families as soon as possible.

Uncertainty

Some families continue to live with the uncertainty of whether their loved ones have survived, since some injured people who arrived at hospitals have not been able to be identified because their documents were destroyed by the fire.

Due to the state of the bodies, many can only be identified through DNA testingcommented the commander of the cantonal police, Frederic Gisler.

Only once all the remains have been identified will it be possible to determine how many of the fatalities are foreigners, although progress in identification has already made it possible to establish that several are Italian.

Crans Montana usually receives a large number of tourists at this time and the bar where this tragedy occurred was one of those where skiers used to go after their day of sports.

In this town, which will take time to recover from this drama, the world alpine ski championship will be held in 2027.