A teenage survivor of the deadly bar fire at Switzerland’s Crans-Montana ski resort has shared a chilling account of the chaos and fear that unfolded as flames tore through the crowded venue, killing about 40 people.
Laetitia Place, 17, told Reuters she narrowly escaped the blaze at the Le Constellation bar in the early hours of New Year’s Day, as hundreds of people desperately tried to flee through narrow exits.
“We all saw really horrible things that no one should ever have to see,” Place said, describing how panic erupted as the crowd surged toward a small doorway. “There’s the small door where everyone was pushing, and so we all fell. We were piled on top of each other. Some people were burning, and some were dead next to us.”
She recalled being overwhelmed by fear—not just for herself, but for her friends and everyone trapped inside. “I was so scared — scared for myself, scared for my friends, scared for everyone inside,” she said.
Another survivor, Samuel Rapp, described a similarly terrifying escape. He said he saw “people lying on the ground, probably dead,” some with jackets covering their faces. Afterward, he received videos showing people struggling to get out as they trampled over one another in the crush.
“There were people shouting, saying, ‘Help me. Please help us,’” Rapp said.
At a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 1, police commander Frédéric Gisler confirmed that around 40 people died in the fire and at least 115 others were injured.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the blaze. Two witnesses told CNN affiliate BFMTV that they believed sparklers placed in champagne bottles may have sparked the fire. However, Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud said officials have not confirmed that theory.
One possibility under investigation is a phenomenon known as a “flashover,” Pilloud explained. A flashover occurs when superheated gases spread across a room, causing all combustible materials to ignite almost simultaneously, often resulting in an explosive burst of flames.
“Flashover is when you no longer have objects in the room on fire. The room is on fire,” Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of the Fire Safety Research Institute, told CNN.
Police have previously stated there is no indication the incident was a terrorist attack and confirmed that the fire was not caused by an explosive device.
Mathias Reynard, the regional council leader, said identifying all the victims and injured will take time, noting that the bar was especially popular with foreign tourists during the holiday season and that not all of the victims are Swiss citizens.
Switzerland’s president, Guy Parmelin, attended the press conference on Thursday after sharing his condolences in a post on X.
“What was a moment of joy turned into a tragedy in Crans-Montana last night, felt across the country and beyond,” Parmelin wrote. “The Federal Council has taken note of this with deep dismay. Its thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their families, and it extends its deepest condolences.”
