- - Waitress paraded sparkler-topped champagne bottle through bar seconds before blaze

Patrick SawerJanuary 1, 2026 at 10:22 PM

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Credit: via X

The New Year’s Eve party was well under way when tragedy struck.

As around 200 revellers celebrated in the packed basement of Le Constellation bar, a barmaid carrying a champagne bottle topped with a sparkler made her way through the crowd.

The barmaid, carried on the shoulders of a colleague, held the bottle above her head near the basement’s ceiling, setting it alight, witnesses said.

Footage showed flames rapidly spreading along the ceiling above the bar as music continued playing at around 1.30am local time on New Year’s Day.

A crowd of party-goers, the vast majority aged between 15 and 20, rushed to escape up a narrow flight of stairs through a single door. Others tried to smash windows to escape as the fire started spreading to the ground floor.

At least 40 were killed and 115 injured. Many of the victims are believed to have been trapped in the bar’s basement level, witnesses said, with reports suggesting that there were not enough emergency exits.

Credit: via X

Police are investigating whether the bar, which videos show was densely packed, had exceeded the legal limit on the number of customers. Videos showed young people piling out of the venue as the fire spread.

Emma, a French witness, said the fire had spread “in seconds”, telling the French news channel BFMTV: “Some of the bottles were near the ceiling and it caught fire. The whole ceiling was in flames and the fire spread really fast. It happened in seconds. We all ran outside, screaming and crying.

“I saw a young man writhing in agony on the floor. His body and his hair were badly burned and half of his face had gone. I think he must have died.”

Parents raced at the scene from around the town and beyond, trying to find out whether their children were trapped inside.

The upmarket resort town of Crans-Montana, 25 miles north of the Matterhorn mountain and around 150 miles from Zurich, is popular with tourists from Britain and elsewhere, who go there for the skiing and the party atmosphere.

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Described by some as the “best place to celebrate New Year’s Eve” in the town, Le Constellation was packed with young people, largely aged between 15 and 20, witnesses said.

“The party was in full swing ... music and champagne flowing freely,” according to one witness.

Lighting sparklers in bottles in the cramped confines of the basement had even featured in a promotional video for the venue posted on social media previously.

It showed waitresses wearing crash helmets walking through the club, waving pyrotechnics flaring out of Dom Perignon champagne bottles precariously close to the beamed ceiling.

Credit: YouTube / Constellation Crans Montana

Another witness, called Albane, said she saw the ceiling catch fire after the firework was lit in the bottle. “It was clearly accidental,” she added.

One young man watching from across the street said he saw about 20 people scrambling to escape the smoke and flames.

Likening what he had witnessed to “a horror movie”, he told The Telegraph: “We are broken. Apparently there were sparklers. They should be banned.”

“How did this happen? I heard screaming after. People ran out everywhere, and then fire engines came.”

Referring to the sparkler that caused the fire, a bus driver told The Telegraph: “They’re banned in a lot of clubs and they should never be allowed anywhere near crowded places. This is an absolute tragedy.”

The narrow flight of stairs up from the basement at Le Constellation

Crans-Montana’s local authority had banned fireworks and sparklers during the New Year’s Eve celebrations over concerns that a lack of rain over the past month had left conditions dangerously dry, increasing the risk of fires catching and spreading quickly.

A local reported hearing loud explosions coming from the vicinity of Le Constellation.

“I heard a number of massive bangs, which sounded like bombs going off. It was crazy,” they said. “I live hundreds of yards from the bar. I heard screaming and screaming and people running.”

Adrien, an eyewitness who was outside the bar when the fire broke out, described the horror of watching those inside flee for their lives. He said: “There was a young man with burns on the pavement outside who kept saying: ‘It hurts, I’m in pain, please call an ambulance.’”

Helicopters and ambulances rushed to the scene, with emergency services from neighbouring countries deployed to assist the rescue operation.

The intensive care unit and operating theatre at the regional hospital were overwhelmed with victims. Those suffering the worst burns were sent to university hospitals across Switzerland.

With the scale of the tragedy quickly becoming apparent, the authorities called on residents to show caution over the coming days in order to avoid placing further strain on the medical system.

Credit: TikTok / ladzdrie92i

Michela Ris, the deputy mayor of the Swiss town of Ascona, who was in Crans-Montana to celebrate New Year’s Eve, described how she was frantically searching for friends on New Year’s morning.

“Some acquaintances told me about young people leaving the bar covered in blood, some without their clothes. It was a real bloodbath,” she told Swiss media.

“We have friends who are not responding to messages. Maybe they are just asleep, but we don’t know if, after being at our house, they went straight home or if they went for one last drink, perhaps to the very club where the tragedy took place.

“We are very worried and are trying to contact everyone, one by one, to make sure they are ok. We are devastated.”

Around 50 family members were waiting for news of missing loved ones.

As morning broke, residents and commuters gathered outside the building, many in tears, devastated at the night’s events in their town.

As the region declared a period of mourning, Mathias Rénard, head of the regional government, told reporters: “This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together – but it turned into a nightmare.”

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