Teens as young as 14 among two dozen now identified in Swiss Alps fire, authorities say
Sixteen other victims, including four young Swiss women aged 14 to 18, have been positively identified in the fire which broke out at a New Year’s party in Switzerland last week, leaving less than half of the victims to be identified.
Valais cantonal police are still working to identify the 40 people who died Thursday evening at the Le Constellation bar in the Swiss Alps. Police are working with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the country’s Disaster Victim Identification Protocol to return victims to their loved ones.
The victims also included six Swiss men aged 16 to 31, police said.
Among the victims identified were two Italians aged 16, an Italian-Emirati also aged 16, a Romanian aged 18 and a Turkish national aged 18. The oldest of the newly identified victims was a 39-year-old Frenchman, according to police.
“This means that 24 victims have now been identified,” police said on Sunday.
The deadly fire that broke out in the town of Crans-Montana appears to have been caused by sparklers placed on bottles of champagne at the bar. Authorities believe the sparklers were too close to the ceiling of the bar, whose soundproof covering caught fire.
Videos from that night show the flames spreading as some tried to put out the fire and others fled in panic.
Ebenezer Mehari, 17, told NBC News he lost four of his friends in the fire. He was blinded by the thick smoke that enveloped the club but was brought to safety by an unknown person.
Mehari, who has lived in the area for 15 years, described the scene as “hell”.
“Someone was dying in front of me and there was nothing I could do,” he said. “His face was so burned it was red.”
An investigation was opened against the bar managers on suspicion of negligent homicide, negligent battery and negligent arson, police said. Authorities plan to examine what safety measures were in place at the time of the fire, as well as whether the soundproofing material in the ceiling that allegedly caught fire complied with regulations.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin shared his “deepest condolences”.
“Behind these figures hide faces, names, families, destinies brutally interrupted,” Parmelin said at a press conference on Thursday.
