🔗 Share this article

Those who escaped of the catastrophic nightclub blaze in the upmarket Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are receiving treatment in specialized trauma centers in various European nations, while investigators report many of the dead were so severely injured that naming the victims could take days or weeks.

A Calamity of Unprecedented Proportions

Approximately 40 people were killed and 115 hurt when the inferno ripped through a New Year’s Eve celebration in the packed Constellation bar and basement nightclub.

“The first objective is to put names to all the bodies,” said local official Nicolas Féraud.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, horrifying proportions” as he described the devastating toll. “Behind these figures are individuals, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or irrevocably damaged,” Parmelin said at a news conference.

Gruelling Identification Process

So severe were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said identification work was particularly gruelling. Families of missing youths issued urgent appeals for news of their family members and diplomatic missions worked urgently to find out if their citizens were among those involved in one of the worst tragedies to strike modern Switzerland.

Mathias Reynard, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said forensic specialists were using dental charts and DNA samples for the solemn duty. “All this work needs to be done because the findings is so distressing and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are completely certain,” he said.

Overwhelmed Medical Systems

Even with one of the world’s most sophisticated healthcare networks, Switzerland’s regional clinics quickly reached capacity in the hours after the blaze. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with dedicated burn centers in Zurich and Lausanne and six were flown to Geneva, as reported by news agencies.

Many more of the injured were transported to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU said it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about offering support.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he had offered his country’s assistance as clinics in Paris and Lyon took in patients, while Sweden and North Macedonia also said they had medical capacity available.

International Victims

Italy and France are among the countries that have said a number of their citizens are unaccounted for and Italy’s diplomatic representative to Switzerland said the Italian foreign minister would travel to Crans-Montana.

Swiss officials have said about 40 people were killed but a foreign government has put the death toll at 47, based on early data.

A regional health and safety official expressed surprise on Friday he was “taken aback” by the latter figure. “This is not the same number that we have,” he told a media outlet.

The Italian ambassador said all but five of the injured had now been named. Several Italians are still missing and more than a dozen hospitalised. Some victims were repatriated on Thursday with more to follow.

The French foreign ministry said several nationals were among the injured and additional individuals remained unaccounted for. Australia has said one of its nationals was injured.

Families in Anguish

Relatives and friends have been working desperately to find their loved ones, using online platforms to share images of those still missing.

Paulo Martins, a French citizen resident in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend narrowly missed being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was really in shock,” Martins told reporters.

A friend of his 17-year-old son had been evacuated for treatment in Germany with severe burns covering a third of his body, Martins stated.

Eleonore, 17, started the year with a desperate hunt for friends who have been unheard from since the fire. Outside the bar, now covered by white tarpaulins and a wall of temporary barriers, she said she had not heard from them since New Year’s Eve.

“We took many pictures [and] we put them on Instagram, Facebook, every social network possible to try to find them,” she said. “But there’s nothing. No response. We called the parents. Nothing. Even the parents don’t know.”

She and a friend later received news that one friend was in a medically induced unconsciousness in a hospital in Lausanne.

Long Road to Recovery

The director of the city’s teaching hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 severely injured patients, most ranging in age from 16 to 26.

“Patients are being medically stabilized and transferred to the surgery or to intensive care units,” she informed a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the treatment will be protracted and demanding, lasting several weeks or even months.”