Around 40 Killed in Bar Fire during New Year’s Celebrations in Switzerland

January 2, 2026

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Around 40 people have died after a fire ripped through a bar in a ski resort in southern Switzerland, police have said. A further 115 people are injured, many of them “severely”.

The fire broke out at around 01:30 (00:30 GMT) during new year celebrations in a bar called Le Constellation in Crans-Montana.

Aftermath of the bar fire on the night new years celebrations.
Photo Credit: AFP

Officials investigating the incident have not confirmed any cause, but categorically ruled out an attack.

People from multiple countries have been affected. Regional police commander Frédéric Gisler has said the priority in the coming days is to identify those who have died “so that their bodies can be returned rapidly” to their families.

Thirteen helicopters, 42 ambulances and 150 emergency responders were sent overnight to the scene of the fire in the Valais region, which is popular with tourists.

Most of the injured experienced severe burns and 60 people were sent to Sion hospital in Valais, with a “significant number” in a critical condition, Regional governor Mathias Reynard said.

Its intensive care unit was at full capacity and Reynard said the local community must take extra care to avoid needing hospital treatment unnecessarily.

“We are painfully aware that identifying the bodies, as well as the injured, may still take a terribly long time for the families involved,” Reynard added.

A vigil was held on Thursday evening outside Le Constellation bar. Photo Credit: BBC

Some people have been taken to hospitals in other Swiss cities including Lausanne and Zurich which have specialist burns units.

A spokesperson for Lausanne University Hospital said they were treating 22 patients with burn injuries, while Zurich University Hospital said it was treating 12 patients for burns.

Some patients were transferred to Geneva University Hospitals where they are being treated for severe, “third degree” burns, and are “very young… between 15 and 25 years old”, Dr Robert Larribau told the BBC’s World Tonight programme.

“The fire broke out so intensely that burns can be internal. People breathed toxic smoke into the lungs,” Dr Larribau said.

The Italian Foreign Ministry has told the BBC that 16 Italian nationals are currently missing, and between 12 and 15 others are receiving treatment in hospital.

The French foreign ministry said eight of its citizens were missing and that it could not rule out that French nationals were among the dead.

French media has reported that at least two of the injured are French nationals.

Three Italian nationals are being evacuated to Milan’s Niguarda hospital where there is a major burns unit, Italian councillor Guido Bertolaso has said.

They have burns across “30-40% of their bodies”, he told reporters, and they remain intubated, but “the fact they could be moved is a good sign”.

The precise number of dead and injured is not yet known, nor their nationalities but officials have confirmed that several nationalities were involved.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday evening, officials said they did not know how many people were in the bar when the fire broke out.

State councillor Stéphane Ganzer described the bar as having a “young festive population” during the New Year’s Eve party.