PinnedUpdated Jan. 2, 2026, 4:25 a.m. ETThe authorities in Switzerland were working on Friday to identify bodies and pinpoint the cause of a fire that ripped through a popular bar during a New Year’s celebration in the Alps, killing around 40 people and injuring more than 100 others.The blaze broke out early Thursday at Le Constellation, a bar in Crans-Montana, a resort town frequented by international tourists. President Guy Parmelin of Switzerland said it was “one of the worst tragedies” in the country’s history, and Swiss police have said identifying all the victims could take days or even weeks.The hospital closest to the fire was initially overwhelmed by the crush of victims. About 50 people were believed to have been badly burned, far exceeding the capacity of Switzerland’s burn units in Zurich and Lausanne and its national disaster center in the capital, Bern, officials said. Some of the injured were flown 75 miles away across the mountains to Milan, which has one of Italy’s best centers for burn treatment, and others were being treated in France.The bar was a haven for people in their late teens and early 20s, and many of the fire victims were young. Italy’s foreign ministry said on Friday that six Italians remained unaccounted for and 13 had been hospitalized. At least nine French citizens were injured in the fire and at least eight are missing, France’s foreign ministry said.Here’s what else to know:Explosion: Officials said that a fire at the bar was followed by an subsequent explosion, but they ruled out the possibility of an attack. They said that the explosion was likely caused by flashover, a phenomenon in which a fire in an enclosed space spreads rapidly, causing nearly everything in the room to ignite almost simultaneously.Crans-Montana: The upmarket destination caters to a mostly wealthy clientele. The region offers views of the Matterhorn, a mountain considered Switzerland’s most famous landmark, and other peaks like Mont Blanc. The town is home to roughly 10,000 people and has around 2,800 hotel beds.Le Constellation: The bar where the fire took place was a well-loved, casual venue near a gondola that whisked skiers up a mountain. It was popular with a younger crowd and international visitors. Downstairs, the space was often turned into a dance floor with live DJs, and the bar regularly broadcast live sports.Jan. 2, 2026, 4:29 a.m. ETThree people injured in the blaze were taken to France on Thursday as Switzerland’s neighbors stepped in to take in badly burned victims. On Friday morning, the French foreign ministry said eight other people would be treated at hospitals in France.Jan. 2, 2026, 4:25 a.m. ETOn Friday morning, police tape and large white barriers cordoned off the area around Le Constellation, live video from the Reuters news agency showed. Temporary tents had been erected, shielding the scene from public view.Jan. 1, 2026, 5:59 p.m. ETMourners gathered on Thursday evening near Le Constellation in the resort village of Crans-Montana, Switzerland.When Bruno Martins headed through the streets of his Swiss mountain village after midnight on New Year’s Day, he expected to meet old friends celebrating in one of their favorite haunts.Instead, Mr. Martins, 17, arrived at Le Constellation, a two-story bar popular with the village’s younger residents, to find it in flames, and surrounded by police officers. A scrum of people were trying to escape the blaze, he said. One of his friends was badly burned and sent to hospital. Others were missing, he said.“It was total panic, people were trampling each other,” Mr. Martins said in an interview. “It’s not real,” he recalled thinking. “It’s a bar we know so well.”The blaze, which Switzerland’s president called one of the worst disasters in Swiss history, tore through the bar, trapping many of its customers inside, killing around 40 people, and leaving the resort village of Crans-Montana in a state of shock.Mourners attending a vigil near the fire-ravaged bar.“When we look at the news, we tell ourselves it’s impossible that this could happen to us,” Mr. Martins said as he stood near the remains of the bar on Thursday evening. “It’s a small, tranquil village where everybody knows each other.”To the teenagers of the village, and those in their early 20s, the disaster felt particularly personal. Le Constellation was their bar, said Sofia Degraye, 22. It was the main place in town where younger residents could find affordable drinks. In quiet times, they would gather there to play billiards, or drink hot chocolate, she said. On busier nights, like New Year’s Eve, it was more like a nightclub. Note: Base map from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap Unlike other bars in Crans-Montana, Le Constellation usually did not charge an entrance fee, so it attracted a particularly young crowd, Ms. Degraye said.“It just makes you think: It could have been me,” said Ms. Degraye, who was back in Crans-Montana for the holidays. “You have that guilt. Why did it happen on this night and not the nights that I was there?”Rescue workers at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana on Thursday.Several hundred mourners, many of them young people, gathered near the cordoned-off bar on Thursday evening. Some were seeking strength and solace in community, others were waiting for news of missing loved ones.Survivors often had scant information about the victims’ fates. Some of those who were in the bar were disfigured by the fire and hard to identify, and many were taken for treatment in hospitals in other parts of the country.Johnny Marcelli, 27, a waiter who had seen smoke billowing from the fire-ravaged bar, was hoping for news about a friend who worked there. He had not heard from her, or about her, since the fire.Lucas Batista, 20, a roofer from the village, had tears in his eyes as he hugged friends at the gathering. He had come to lay flowers for his friend, a 23-year-old barmaid at Le Constellation.Mr. Batista was at a party at another friend’s house when he heard about the fire, he said. In the morning, he learned that the barmaid had been taken to an intensive care unit. Later, another friend called and told him she had died. “I feel terrible,” Mr. Batista said.A memorial gathering near Le Constellation on Thursday evening.Ms. Degraye said that she had been at the bar two nights earlier, and that one of her closest friends would have been there the night of the blaze, but for a last-minute change of heart.She was left wondering, she said, how a night that symbolizes a fresh start had devolved into something so tragic. “A celebration of love and light and a new year and new hope and new prospects,” Ms. Degraye said. “All the innocents there, they’re kids, they went to celebrate.”“All of it gone — and so fast,” she said.Police officers in Crans-Montana on Thursday.Jan. 1, 2026, 4:28 p.m. ETAn air ambulance leaving the main hospital in Sion, Switzerland, the closest to the deadly fire, on Thursday.Credit...Pierre Albouy/ReutersThe number of people who suffered severe burns in the bar fire in the Swiss resort town of Crans-Montana far exceeds the capacity of Switzerland’s burn units in Zurich and Lausanne and its national disaster center in the capital, an emergency care official in Geneva said on Thursday.About 50 people are believed to have been badly burned, according to Dr. Robert Larribau, the head of emergency care at Geneva’s University Hospital, who was briefed by the national authorities.Officials in the capital, Bern, were coordinating with the European Union to find hospitals in neighboring countries that are able to take some of the victims, Dr. Larribau said. Transfers of patients to hospitals in Germany, Italy and France began on Thursday, and France said on Friday that 11 injury victims would be hospitalized there.The hospital closest to the fire, in Sion, Switzerland, was initially overwhelmed by the rush of victims, Dr. Larribau said. It was reported to have taken in around 60 people.Twenty-two others were sent to Lausanne, more than double the capacity of its burn center, Dr. Larribau said. Another 16 patients were transferred to Zurich University Hospital, and eight were sent to hospital in Bern.Four people, between the ages of 15 and around 25, were taken to Geneva University Hospital. Two were in intensive care and required transfer as soon as possible for specialized treatment, Dr. Larribau said.Three people suffering fractures and other nonburn injuries from an explosion that occurred at the bar as the fire raged made their own way to another Geneva hospital, he said.Jan. 1, 2026, 9:05 a.m. ETPolice officers investigate the area where the fire at Le Constellation bar broke out in Crans-Montana, a popular ski resort town in Switzerland.Credit...Alessandro Della Valle/Keystone, via Associated PressThe Alpine resort town of Crans-Montana, where a fire at a bar is believed to have killed dozens and injured about 100 more, is more than a century old and is known as a high-end destination popular with families and international visitors.The town lies about 120 miles east of Geneva in the French-speaking Valais region, and offers sweeping views from a plateau above the Rhone Valley. It is famed for gourmet restaurants, luxury stores and hosting big sporting events, including World Cup ski competitions and major golf tournaments. The area was scheduled to host the men’s and women’s World Cup races later this month. Roger Moore, the late James Bond actor, had a home there for many years.The Crans-Montana Resort does not operate the bar where the fire occurred. The resort’s managing director, Pete Petrovski, released a statement saying, “We are deeply saddened by last night’s tragedy,” and adding that the resort would support the efforts of local authorities.A skier walking near Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana on Thursday.Credit...Alessandro Della Valle/Keystone, via Associated PressAmin Momen, the founder of Momentum Experiences, a London-based travel company that organizes corporate ski events, said that the bar, Le Constellation, was a “casual” spot, rather than the type of luxury nightspot that the town is known for. The bar was big, with an upstairs and downstairs area, he said, adding that foreign visitors often went there to watch sports, like Premier League soccer. December, Mr. Momen added, would have been a popular time for families to visit the town.The bar was also popular with young people, according to SRF, Switzerland’s public broadcaster.The authorities said the victims of the fire were likely of many nationalities.About three million people visit Crans-Montana each year, according to its website. Most of them are from Switzerland, but about a fifth of its clientele are international tourists, led by Italian and French visitors.Aurelien Breeden and Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.