Massacre at a New Year’s Eve party in the Swiss ski resort of Crans Montana. At least 47 people would have died due to an explosion. 115 people were injured, “mostly seriously”, said the Valais cantonal police.
Some victims are unrecognizable due to severe burns. The explosion devastated the bar Le Constellationvery popular with tourists, while the celebrations for the arrival of the new year were taking place. An Aosta Valley mountain rescue team also participates in the rescue.
“At the moment a dozen or fifteen Italians were found in hospitals. Just as many are missing”, that is, “the families have contacted the crisis unit and the embassy” to ask for news of their relatives. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said this on ‘Diario del giorno’ on Rete4. Subsequently, in connection with RaiNews 24, he reported that the number of missing has risen to 16. According to the minister, at least 47 people have died and one hundred people have been injured.
The fire was due to “an explosion caused by a firecracker fired on the false ceiling” of the restaurant, said the Italian ambassador to Switzerland Gian Lorenzo Cornado, speaking to Rai News 24.
Video The Italian ambassador to Switzerland: ‘Fire caused by a firecracker’
According to the story of two young French people on the all-news TV Bfm the flames that devastated the bar apparently started from candles lit on bottles of champagne, who set fire to the wooden ceiling. “One of the candles was brought too close to the ceiling, which caught fire. Within a few tens of seconds the entire ceiling was on fire. It was all wood“, said the two girls, Emma and Albane.
The Farnesina communicated that to provide assistance to the relatives of the victims of the explosion, in addition to the unit with officials from the Crisis Unit and the Unit for the Protection of Italians Abroad in Rome, in the Swiss town it was a collection point for family members is operational in the ‘le Regent’ conference centre, while the Swiss cantonal police has set up a help line which answers the number +41848112117 and can also be contacted from Italy.
The police also confirmed that the accident it is not treated as a terrorist attack.
Swiss authorities said some of the victims of the explosion a come from other countries. Sky News writes this after the authorities’ press conference in Crans-Montana. No details were given about the exact nationalities, but police described the location as an “internationally famous ski resort with many tourists”.
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“The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, expresses, in his personal capacity and on behalf of the Government, deepest condolences for the dramatic fire occurred in Switzerland, in Crans-Montana”. This was stated in a press release from Palazzo Chigi.
Even the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarellain a message to Swiss President Guy Parmelin, expressed his sorrow. “I learned with profound sadness – he writes – the news of the explosion in the ski resort of Crans-Montana and its tragic consequences. I address a moving thought to the families of the numerous victims and my sincere wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.
On this sad occasion, I would like to convey to you, Mr. President, the expressions of deep condolences and of the closeness of the Italian Republic and of myself.”
ANSA Agency A witness: ‘Carnage, the boys came out of the club in Crans-Montana bloodied’ – News – Ansa.it The testimony of a Swiss MP who is in the ski resort (ANSA)“The According to witnesses, the explosion was a consequence of the fireof the brazier that was created throughout the place”, said State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer, head of the Department of Institutions. This was reported by Swiss Radio and Television. The hypothesis circulating, on which the authorities however have not commented, is that fireworks may have been lit in the bar.
Video The flames at the site of the massacre
A 16-year-old from Milan in a coma, hospitalized in Zurich
A group of three boys from Milan, all 16 years old, were involved in the explosion that occurred during the night in Crans-Montana. In particular, from what ANSA has learned, a girl is hospitalized in a coma in Zurich hospital.
Another boy, however, is arriving by helicopter at the Niguarda hospital in Milan with serious burns to one hand, as well as to his head. The third friend was instead rejected at the entrance to the Costellation bar where the explosion which he then saw from outside took place.
The mother of a 16-year-old Italian: ‘My son in Crans-Montana, help me’
“We are calling all the hospitals, but no one knows anything, also because those who arrive are in very bad conditions. Help me find my son.” It is the appeal of Carla Masiello, from Bologna, to search for her son Giovanni Tamburi, 16 years old, missing in Crans-Montana. The words are relaunched by Repubblica. The boy was in Switzerland with his father. He was out with some friends and they went to Le Constellation. “He had a dead cell phone, a friend told me that they ran away after the fire broke out, then at a certain point he never saw him again.” “He had a gold chain with the image of a Madonna around his neck,” he adds to ANSA.
The authorities evoke the ‘flashover’
In the Crans-Montana bar which was the scene of last night’s dramatic fire, a “flashover” appears to have occurred, a very dangerous phenomenon in which fire spreads suddenly and violently in closed environments. The Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS writes this, citing the authorities of the canton of Valais. The flashover then caused one or more explosions, he adds.
The term flashover – it is explained – means the sudden transition from a localized fire to a generalized fire. In this context, survival is practically impossible and the situation constitutes a mortal danger even for firefighters.
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