LONDON — “Several” dozen people were presumed killed and about 100 others were injured early on New Year’s Day, as a fire ripped through a popular bar in a resort town in the Swiss Alps, police said.
A blaze of “undetermined origin” broke out at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana at about 1:30 a.m. local time, the Cantonal Police of Valais said in a statement.
Rescuers and fire-fighters work at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana on Jan. 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Investigators were working on Thursday to determine the cause of the fire, officials said during a morning press conference. The incident was not being investigated as an attack, they added.
“What should have been a moment of joy turned into a tragedy in Crans-Montana last night, a tragedy that affects all of Switzerland and the world,” Guy Parmelin, the minister who assumed the rotating Swiss presidency on Thursday, said in German on social media. “The Federal Council has taken note of this tragedy with profound dismay.”
Rescuers are seen at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana in Switzerland on Jan. 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Officials described the emergency response as “major,” adding that the area near the Alpine bar had been closed to the public.
“A large contingent of police, firefighters, and rescue personnel immediately responded to the scene to assist the numerous victims,” police said in their statement.
A no-fly zone was put in place over Crans-Montana, police said in their statement. The resort town is popular with skiers and sits in Switzerland’s southern Sierre District in the Canton of Valais.
Police officers walk at the site of a fire that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, on Jan. 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Police have not released the identities of those who were killed in the blaze. Officials on Thursday said it was likely, given the popularity of the area with travelers, that some of the deceased were tourists who’d traveled to the Alpine town to ski and to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
The French Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement that at least two French nationals were among the injured. Both were being treated in local hospitals, the ministry said. French officials were “in constant contact with the Swiss authorities in case other nationals are affected,” the ministry added.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi-Burridge contributed to this report.
Source: abc news
