A major fire incident during the New Year celebrations at Le Constellation bar in the Swiss Alpine resort of Crans-Montana claimed dozens of lives and left about a hundred people injured on Thursday (1st January). While the local authorities have not yet ascertained the cause of the fire, an image of the New Year celebration at the bar has surfaced. The image shows a group of people celebrating, holding bottles of champagne and sparklers in their hands and the soundproofing foam in the ceiling catching fire due to celebratory fireworks.
The image was posted by the media outlet Visegrád24 on X on Friday (2nd January). From the image, it appears that the tragic fire might have been caused by soundproofing foam in the ceiling catching fire due to fireworks.
A new picture shows the start of yesterday’s fire at a club the Swiss ski resort Crans-Montana.
More than 40 young people killed and 115 wounded.
Soundproofing foam in the ceiling was set on fire by accident. pic.twitter.com/kQHywofdN2
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 1, 2026
Around 40 people were killed, and 115 were injured when a fire broke out at around 1:30 a.m. (local time) at the bar. The fire started from the basement of the bar and quickly turned into an inferno that engulfed the entire bar. Local authorities have ruled out the possibility of an attack or a criminal act and are treating it as an accident. However, the exact cause of the fire remains a subject of investigation.
The authorities are currently undertaking the task of identifying the victims and ascertaining the death toll. A five-day mourning will be held in Switzerland in memory of the deceased victims of the tragic incident. Switzerland’s president, Guy Parmelin, described the fire as one of the most traumatic events in the country’s history. “It was a drama of an unknown scale,” he said.
