A summary of today's developments
Switzerland will hold five days of mourning after an “unprecedented” fire tore through a crowded bar, killing about 40 people and injuring 115 who were celebrating at a New Year’s Eve party in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana.
There have been no arrests and no crime is suspected, authorities said. The investigation is into the circumstances of the fire.
Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais canton council, said 42 ambulances, 13 helicopters and three disaster trucks were deployed from across the region. About 35 people sought care themselves at local centres while a further 80 people received care from hospital services.
Valais canton prosecutor general Beatrice Pilloud said she could not comment on reports that a candle set alight a wooden ceiling at the bar following video footage taken at the scene appearing to show the ceiling ablaze.
Sixteen Italians have been reported missing after the fire swept through the bar in the Swiss Alps, while about a dozen more Italian nationals are being treated in hospital, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said earlier.
About 22 people are being cared for at Lausanne University hospital, according to its director, who said patients aged 16 to 26 were the most seriously hurt.
Dozens of young teenagers gathered in front of the police cordon outside the nightclub in an impromptu vigil. People placed candles and flowers near to the site.
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Switzerland to hold five days of mourning
Switzerland will hold five days of mourning after an “unprecedented” fire tore through a crowded bar, killing about 40 people and injuring 115 who were celebrating at a New Year’s Eve party in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana.
The country’s president, Guy Parmelin, described the blaze as one of the most traumatic events in Switzerland’s history. “It was a drama of an unknown scale,” he said, paying tribute to the many “young lives that were lost and interrupted”.
Updated
The new year had passed its first hour and the party in Le Constellation was in full swing with revellers dancing to thumping hip-hop. Dawn was far off and the teenagers and twentysomethings were in no hurry to leave the bar. It was, after all, New Year’s Day, writes Chris Michael in Crans-Montana and Rory Carroll.
Outside, darkness draped Crans-Montana, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps with a reputation for poshness and luxury. Le Constellation, however, had few pretensions: a cavernous venue with TV screens on the top floor to watch sport, and a basement with low lighting, loud music and a dancefloor.
It attracted a young crowd, including under-18s, mainly from Switzerland and continental Europe, and early on Thursday morning hundreds thronged the venue to inaugurate 2026. Many would not live to see the sunrise.
Investigators are still investigating the cause of the horror that began at 1.30am.
Two witnesses said a bartender carried on his shoulders a female member of staff who held a champagne bottle that contained a lit sparkler, or flare, near the wooden ceiling above the bar area. An unverified photo posted on social media showed a white flame coming from a magnum of champagne. Others speculated that charcoal for shisha pipes may have spilled.
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Alexis, 18, said he was outside Le Constellation bar when he first spotted the fire “through the glass doors”.
He told Swiss broadcaster RTS: “It was a real flame coming out.
“It was coming out and … in fact, people were running through these flames.
“You could see the shadows. People were trying to break the glass with chairs in the bar.”
Another witness, Alex, 21, told RTS he had just arrived outside the bar when the first fire victims emerged.
“I saw someone in their underwear, burned. That’s when I realised there was definitely something wrong.”
He recalls a “smell of gas, of melted plastic, a very unpleasant mixture. And then half a dozen burned people came out.”
Alex added: “It sent a chill down my spine to think that there were possibly still 50 people trapped inside.”
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A graphic of the area around Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.
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People place candles and flowers near Le Constellation in Crans-Montana following the fire that tore through a crowded bar in the Swiss ski resort, killing dozens and injuring about 115.
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Dozens of young teenagers have been gathering in front of the police cordon outside Le Constellation nightclub in an impromptu vigil – even while the centre of Crans-Montana continues to bustles with skiers, skaters and tourists making the most of their holidays.
The president of Switzerland said earlier in the day that many of the victims of the Crans-Montana fire were young, and their friends came to pay their respects, often with tears in their eyes.
“I was going to go [to Le Constellation bar] last night, but I was in the centre of Crans and saw the chaos and decided not to go,” said Milica Lazic, who came with her father to lay flowers.
She said a friend is a bouncer at the nightclub, and that nobody had been able to reach him.
Le Constellation was a place for younger locals, many of whom, like her, would go there as kids, she added.
Her father, who asked not to be named, said he used to drink there 30 years ago, when it was under previous ownership. He added that it was common for Le Constellation not to have a cover charge, which could explain why it was so popular with younger people on a night of the year when some venues in Valais charge hundreds of Swiss francs just for entry.
Ernesto Perila, 56, the owner of the Crans-Café pizzeria down the street from the venue, confirmed that Le Constellation was something of an institution.
He said that like his own restaurant, Le Constellation was frequented by locals, rather than seasonal workers, and that unlike some bars it stays open all year round. He added that it would likely have received a late license for New Year’s Eve.
Crans was buzzing the night of the disaster, he said. “I took my family to the centre of the city to watch the fireworks and it was so crowded I even spoke to my wife about our escape plan.”
They went home after midnight, and shortly thereafter heard helicopters and sirens. “But I just thought it was a small fire in a kitchen or something, I couldn’t imagine what had happened and when I woke at 4am to see the news on my phone I was shocked.”
Updated
Karine Spreng, a Crans-Montana resident, said she may know someone who was present when the fire ripped through Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort on Thursday.
Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the aftermath of the tragedy, said neighbouring bars stayed open through the night to welcome injured people and keep them warm.
Video from the scene shows orange flames billowing from inside the ground-floor bar and lounge. Swiss police confirmed arson was not the cause and the blaze is thought to have been started accidentally.
A summary of developments so far
Police now believe around 40 people have died and at least 115 injured, many of them severely, Frédéric Gisler, police commander of Valais canton, told reporters.
There have been no arrests and no suspects, authorities said. The investigation is into the circumstances of the fire at a bar in the Swiss Alps during a new year celebration at a luxury ski resort.
Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais canton council, said 42 ambulances, 13 helicopters and three disaster trucks were deployed from across the region. Around 35 people sought care themselves at local centres while a further 80 people received care from hospital services.
Valais canton prosecutor general Beatrice Pilloud said she could not comment on reports that a candle set alight a wooden ceiling at the bar following video footage taken at the scene appearing to show the ceiling ablaze.
Sixteen Italians have been reported missing after the fire swept through a bar in the Swiss Alps, while around a dozen more Italian nationals are being treated in hospital following the blaze, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said earlier.
About 22 people are being cared for at Lausanne University Hospital, according to its director, who said patients aged 16 to 26 were the most serious.
Updated
The press conference has now concluded. We will round up the key developments shortly.
There are several questions from journalists about the maximum capacity of the bar.
Pilloud says the number of people in the bar at the time of the fire “is completely unknown”.
Fire 'not deliberate act'
There have been no arrests and no suspects, says Pilloud. The investigation is into the circumstances of the fire.
She says it was not a deliberate act.
Updated
It is “highly likely that the injured will in the coming hours be transported to hospitals in neighbouring countries”, officials say, in response to questions about offers of help that have come from Italy, France and Germany.
The officials reiterate that many of those in the bar were young.
A report earlier from the hospital in Lausanne said the youngest patient being treated was just 16.
Updated
Pilloud is asked about emergency exits at the bar, but says “it is too early to draw any conclusions”.
Some eyewitness reports have said there was only a narrow staircase to access or leave the basement bar, meaning that some of those there as the fire broke out were trapped. This has not been confirmed.
Valais canton prosecutor general Beatrice Pilloud, questioned by a member of the press, says she cannot comment on reports that a candle set alight a wooden ceiling at the bar.
Video footage taken at the scene appears to show the ceiling ablaze:
Updated
Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais canton council, adds more about the emergency response.
He says 42 ambulances, 13 helicopters and three disaster trucks were deployed from across the region.
Around 35 people sought care themselves at local centres.
Another 80 people received care from hospital services, with a “significant nunber of them classified as being in a critical condition”.
Yet more patients have been taken to larger, specialist hospitals, he says. We reported earlier that Zurich, Lausanne and Bern hospitals had all taken victims from the fire.
Reynard says they have received offers from specialist units in Italy to help.
And he reminds local people to be careful today to avoid overwhelming local medical services. The local hospital “is experiencing extreme tension … do not clutter emergency rooms with incidents that can be avoided”.
Stephane Ganzer, head of the department of security for the canton of Valais, also praises emergency services and says some of them have needed treatment themselves following “heroic behaviour”.
Ganzer adds that many young people on the scene acted quickly and bravely to try to help those caught in the blaze.
About 40 people have died, with 115 injured – many severely
In an update to the death toll, Gisler says police now believe “around 40 people have died and at least 115 have been injured”, many of them severely.
He says officials expect the victims to be of many different nationalities.
Updated
Frédéric Gisler, police commander of Valais canton, is talking through the timeline of events.
Smoke was first seen around 1.30am local time, and emergency services were called.
Police reached the scene at 1.32am, quickly followed by firefighters.
Their first mission was to provide care to the victims … and direct them to the various hospitals.
The firefighters at the same time secured the site.
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Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais canton council, speaks next. He repeats the earlier phrasing that “several dozens” of people have died.
Identifying the bodies of the dead and injured will take time, he says, acknowledging this is “terrible” for the families.
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The president says flags will be flown at half-mast for five days.
He calls on the public to unite in the face of tragedy, and for those who have died to be remembered for the lives they lived, and not the horrific way in which those lives were lost.
Parmelin salutes the actions of police, firefighters and paramedics who were faced with such distressing scenes.
He says investigations are under way to determine the cause of the tragedy.
This is one of the worst tragedies that Switzerland has experienced, Guy Parmelin, president of the Swiss federation, says.
He says the victims include local people, but also those who had travelled to Crans-Montana for the holiday season.
The country shares their pain, with respect and feeling.
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Swiss officials give update
The press conference has just started.
You can watch this at the top of the live blog and we will follow it live here.
Sixteen Italians missing after blaze; 12 injured
The Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, has been speaking about possible Italian casualties of Le Constellation fire, Reuters reports:
Sixteen Italians have been reported missing after a fire swept through a bar in the Swiss Alps, while around a dozen more Italian nationals are being treated in hospital following the blaze, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said.
“I hope there are no [Italian] victims, but we cannot rule anything out,” he told the Sky TG24 TV station, describing the situation as “chaotic”.
Tajani, who has been in regular contact with Swiss authorities throughout the day, said the confirmed death toll stood at 47. He added that the injured Italians had suffered severe burns.
Swiss authorities have not yet confirmed a death toll publicly, other than saying “several dozens” of people are believed to have died.
My colleague Chris Michael, who is at the scene in Crans-Montana, sends this update:
Emerging from the police cordon just now was the president of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin, who happens to be serving his first day in office today.
“I came here on behalf of the federal council, on behalf of our country, Switzerland, to show respect to the families,” Parmelin said in French, flanked by Mathias Reynard, the head of the Valais canton (one of 26 Swiss states) where Crans-Montana is located.
Some don’t yet know if their children have died. Some are in hospital, in serious conditions, and we are going to do everything we can to allow things to proceed as fast and as efficiently as possible. But today, our thoughts and prayers really are with all those who have lived this tragedy.”
Parmelin also thanked “the foreign governments, particularly of the neighbouring countries which are showing solidarity by working with Switzerland to take in people suffering from severe burns”.
Now it is a matter of speed, to make sure these people can be taken care of as soon as possible.”
Parmelin and Reynard declined to answer any questions about the victims, including their nationalities or ages. It appears likely that at least some of them were teenaged children, based on eyewitness accounts from similarly aged people who were inside Le Constellation when the fire broke out.
His reference to other countries taking in victims chimes with reports that local hospital services in the state have been inundated by high numbers of casualties.
The Swiss federation president, Guy Parmelin – who took office today – has visited the scene of the fire.
He says he has spoken to families who are waiting anxiously for news:
Some still do not know if their children have died.
My colleague Chris Michael has been on the scene of the fire in Crans-Montana today.
Here are some of the photos he took of the surrounding area this morning:
The Associated Press has looked back at some other nightclub, bar and music venue fires that have led to significant death tolls in recent years:
December 2025: A fire ripped through a popular nightclub in Arpora village, in India’s Goa state, killing 25 people, including kitchen workers and tourists.
March 2025: A fire and ensuing stampede at the crowded Pulse club in Kocani, North Macedonia, killed 63 people, most of them young revelers, and injured more than 200. It was set off by a pyrotechnic flame that engulfed the roof of the club.
April 2024: A blaze at the Masquerade nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, trapped workers and employees while the venue was closed for renovations, leaving 29 people dead. It was located on the ground and basement floors of a 16-story residential building.
October 2023: A fire that started at a nightclub in the southeastern Spanish city of Murcia and spread to two other clubs left 13 people dead.
January 2022: A nightclub in Sorong, in Indonesia’s West Papua province, burned after two groups attacked each other inside the building. Nineteen people were killed.
January 2022: A blaze at Liv’s Nightclub Yaouba in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, set off explosions that killed 17 people. The government suggested that fireworks set the roof alight and the fire then spread to areas where cooking gas was stored.
December 2016: Thirty-six people died in a fire at a warehouse in Oakland, California that had been converted into a residence and event space for artists dubbed the “Ghost Ship.” The blaze, which broke out during an electronic music and dance party, moved so quickly that victims were trapped on the illegally constructed second floor.
October 2015: A blaze that broke out during a rock band’s pyrotechnics display at the Colectiv nightclub in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, killed 64 people and left some 190 injured.
Hours after the explosion, footage from the street outside showed the area cordoned off, with forensic tents behind white screens set up in front of the bar, one of many in Crans-Montana, a fashionable ski centre with an array of boutiques, luxury hotels and restaurants.
“I know someone who might have been among the victims and I can’t reach her. I’m very worried,” said local resident Karine Spreng.
“I’m going to try to contact other people who know this woman to see if she is still alive.”
The daytime scene, with small groups of people, some in tears or carrying flowers, was a stark contrast to the panic and confusion that officials said faced first responders who arrived when the alarm was raised.
Video appears to show ceiling of bar on fire
A video that has been circulated on social media video appears to show the Crans-Montana fire breaking out.
In it, flames can be seen taking hold of the ceiling above the bar area.
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Witnesses described injured being treated in improvised triage centres set up in a nearby bar and in a branch of UBS bank and said many suffered after coming out of the heat of the bar into the freezing night air.
“And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth as much as possible,” said Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the frantic scenes as the bodies were brought out.
A waiter in a restaurant near to the bar who declined to be named said that first responders approached staff overnight asking for table cloths to cover the bodies to conceal them from onlookers, Reuters reported.
Fire triggered a flashover or backdraft, which caused further blasts
There was some early confusion in the immediate aftermath of the incident, when it was unclear if some kind of explosive device had been involved. Police officials have said this was not the case.
It now appears that the tragedy was started with a fire that then caused an explosion inside Le Constellation bar.
AP reports:
While officials said Thursday it was too early to determine the fire’s cause, investigators have already ruled out that it could have been an attack.
The Swiss officials called the blaze an “embrasement généralisé,” a French firefighting term describing how a blaze can trigger the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently and cause what English-speaking firefighters would call a flashover or a backdraft.
Victims suffered from serious burns and smoke inhalation.
Switzerland’s national forensic specialist teams are now reported to be at the scene of the fire.
There have been conflicting accounts of how the fire started and spread, but authorities have ruled out a deliberate attack or terrorism.
Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais canton chief prosecutor, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire.
Videos circulating on social media purport to show a fire starting in the basement of the bar by either a candle or sparkler. The Guardian video team is working to verify and authenticate these videos.
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Hospitals across Switzerland and beyond have taken in injured patients from the fire.
Lausanne hospital says it has received 22 patients, aged between 16 and 26, according to Swiss news website 24heures, reported to be the most seriously injured.
Lausanne and Zurich are the two hospitals within Switzerland with specialist centres for severe burns. University Hospital Zurich is treating 12 patients, reports suggest.
Many of those with respiratory injuries have been taken to hospital in Bern.
Italian authorities have said they have made available space in specialist burns units there, and at least one patient is reported to have been taken to Stuttgart, in Germany, to be treated.
Earlier, officials in the Valais canton said hospitals were full and asked the public to take extra care to not put added pressure on overwhelmed health services.
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Patients at one hospital aged between 16 and 26
About 22 people are being cared for at Lausanne University Hospital, according to its director, who said that patients aged 16 to 26 were the most serious.
The director, Claire Charmet, also told the Swiss newspaper 24 Heures that less critically injured patients could be transported to Lausanne later.
She added that the recovery of those with the most serious injuriees will be “a long and intensive process, lasting several weeks, perhaps even months”.
Updated
A photo, which the Guardian has not verified, is circulating on social media showing a woman in a black dress in the basement of the bar, holding a magnum of champagne.
A large white flame can be seen coming from the top of the bottle.
Updated
Messages of sympathy and condolences are being sent by figures including the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Profonde émotion après l’incendie de Crans-Montana. Mes pensées vont aux familles endeuillées et aux blessés. À la Suisse, à son peuple et à ses autorités, j’adresse la pleine solidarité de la France et notre soutien fraternel.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 1, 2026
Here is a map showing where the Swiss ski resort is located:
Chris Michael in Crans-Montana, Switzerland
The owner of the Dédé clothing store, directly across the street from Le Constellation, who was perched on one of the fur-covered chairs that are ubiquitous in Swiss mountain villages, said the venue was a popular destination for younger people – including the children of her friends sitting with her, who would often drink there from as young as 14 years old.
Francois, 17, another ski instructor who said he had often partied at the bar, explained that New Years parties were known as being more lax in terms of checking the age of bar entrants.
Chris Michael in Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Ulysse Brozzo, 16, an instructor at the ESS ski school who lives in the town of Nyon on Lake Geneva but is one of the many seasonal workers who flock up to Crans-Montana and other Alpine resorts for the winter crowds, said several of his friends were in the club at the time of the fire.
He said he had spoken to some who were safe, but had yet to hear from others he knew were inside when the fire broke out. A friend of a friend was in a coma at Sion hospital.
“It’s a total tragedy,” he said. “There were hundreds of people inside.”
The venue was set over two floors, he said, with a bar on the main floor and narrow stairs leading to a basement nightclub below, where he speculated it would have been possible for people to have become trapped and incapacitated from smoke inhalation.
He said shisha pipes were available to smoke. “What people are saying is that the charcoal on the shisha could have spilled and caused the fire,” Brozzo said.
Authorities said investigations are continuing into the cause of the blaze, and noted only that they had ruled out a terrorist incident.
Brozzo added that he feared the disaster would harm the reputation of the town, which relies heavily on a largely European clientele who come to ski, eat in several Michelin-starred restaurants and shop at Moncler and Louis Vuitton. It has around 3,000 hotel rooms to its 10,000 residents.
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Chris Michael in Crans-Montana, Switzerland
The popular Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana was reeling Thursday morning after a fire tore through a crowded nightclub full of revellers celebrating New Year’s Eve.
Two women held each other and wept in front of the police cordon outside Le Constellation, while mourners left flowers. The club itself, which is frequented by younger people and tourists, was surrounded by police tents.
Shortly before 1pm, a Swiss police forensics team entered the tents. Behind the building, an apartment block – also called Le Constellation – had smashed windows, where firefighters had attempted to let the smoke from the blaze escape.
Crans-Montana is a bustling resort town of about 10,000 people perched high in the Valais canton of the Swiss Alps, with a view across the valley to the famed Matterhorn mountain. Unlike nearby Verbier, which attracts an Anglophone crowd, Crans-Montana is popular mainly with wealthy Europeans.
But le Constellation itself was more of a cheap and cheerful bar for younger people and tourists – several hundred of whom reportedly packed the basement dancefloor, which was accessible by a set of narrow stairs.
Dozens of people are presumed dead and about 100 injured, most of them seriously, in a fire at a bar in the Swiss Alps during a new year’s celebration at a luxury ski resort.
The blaze ripped through the packed bar, Le Constellation, early on Thursday in Crans-Montana, one of the top-ranked ski destinations in Europe, which lies about 25 miles (40km) north-west of Zermatt.
Swiss police believe about 40 people died, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement. The victims are believed to come from several countries.
The cause of the fire at the Constellation Bar remains unconfirmed but initial reports that flames ripped across the ceiling and trapped people below will in Ireland evoke memories of a nightclub fire in 1981 that killed dozens.
The Stardust inferno in the north Dublin suburb of Artane was one of the worst disasters in the history of the Irish state – a conflagration that killed 48 people and injured 214, many of them teenagers.
The nightclub was hosting a Valentine’s Day dancing competition in the early morning of 14 February when flames ripped through walls and the roof and engulfed the venue within 10 minutes. Panicked parents rushed to the scene – as parents also did in Crans-Montana on Thursday.
The cause of the Stardust fire was never conclusively established. Relatives said investigations were botched and spent decades campaigning for an inquest, that was held in 2023.
The French president Emmanuel Macron has said his “thoughts are with the bereaved families” in a post on X.
He wrote:
Deep emotion following the fire in Crans-Montana. My thoughts are with the bereaved families and the injured.
To Switzerland, its people, and its authorities, I extend France’s full solidarity and fraternal support.
It comes as several French media outlets reported that at least two of the injured are French nationals.
Two women have told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside when they saw a barman carrying a barmaid on his shoulders.
The barmaid was holding a lit candle in a bottle that set fire to the wooden ceiling, AP reported. The flames quickly spread and collapsed the ceiling, they told the broadcaster.
One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.
“What was meant to be a moment of joy turned, on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana, into mourning that touches the entire country and far beyond,” Swiss president Guy Parmelin said on X, expressing condolences.
Thursday was Parmelin’s first day in office as head of state as the seven members of Switzerland’s government take turns holding the presidency for one year.
Out of respect for the families of the victims, he delayed a traditional New Year address to the nation meant to be broadcast Thursday afternoon, Swiss broadcasters SRF and RTS reported.
Swiss police have released images of the damage caused by the fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.
Tables and chairs are pictured strewn across the bar area, giving an insight into the panic as revellers attempted to flee the fire.
A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside.
The witness said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.
The UK’s foreign office said staff are ready to help any British nationals affected by the fatal fire at a bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort in Switzerland.
It is understood there have not been any requests for consular assistance from any UK nationals or their families so far.
In the statement, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said:
Our thoughts are with all those injured and killed in the terrible tragedy in Crans-Montana, and we pay tribute to the Swiss emergency services who are leading the response.
We will continue to monitor the situation, and our consular staff stand ready to support any British nationals who may be affected.
The UK embassy in Switzerland has said it has not yet been approached in relation to the tragedy.
It said on X:
Swiss emergency services are responding to a fire in Crans-Montana, with nationals from multiple countries likely affected. We continue to monitor the situation.
Whilst we have not been approached for assistance, our staff stand ready to support British nationals abroad 24/7.
If you are a British national in need of consular assistance, you can call us 24/7 on + 44 (0) 20 7008 5000.
Crans-Montana is one of the top race venues on the World Cup circuit in Alpine skiing and will host the next world championships over two weeks in February 2027.
In four weeks’ time, the resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers for their last events before going to the Milan Cortina Olympics, AP reports.
Crans-Montana also is a premium venue in international golf. The Crans-sur-Sierre club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course with stunning mountains views.
In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed, AP reported.
The community is in the heart of the Swiss Alps, just 40km (25 miles) north of the Matterhorn, one of the most famous Alpine peaks, and 130km (81 miles) south of Zurich.
The highest point of Crans-Montana, with a population of 10,000 residents, sits at an elevation of nearly 3,000m (1.86 miles), according to the municipality’s website, which says officials are seeking to move away from a tourist culture and attract high-tech research and development.
What we know so far
Police have confirmed that “several dozen” people have died in the explosion, with around 100 injured.
The Italian foreign ministry have said information from Swiss police suggested about 40 deaths, but police were not more specific than “dozens” at the press conference.
At around 1.30am local time, smoke was noted at the bar and emergency services were called. Fire and police patrols “rapidly reached the site”.
There were several hundred people affected by the blast, and from many different nationalities, officials have said. They said it will take time to uncover who has been killed and injured, and where they are from, with many nationalities likely to have been involved.
Firefighters have been mobilised from across the entire region, officials said.
Many victims have “severe burns”, officials added. The local hospitals’ intensive care units “are full” and some patients are having to be transferred to hospitals in other cantons for urgent care.
There is no suggestion that this was a terrorist attack, police confirmed.
The area has been completely closed off, and a no-fly zone has been imposed over Crans-Montana, police said in a statement.
A police official told this morning’s press conference that everyone involved in the operation is “stunned” by this “painful moment”.
The press conference has now ended. We will bring you a summary of the key points soon.
Victims likely to have been from many different countries
“It is probable that victims will be of different nationalities,” officials say, adding that they are working with other countries to establish this.
They stress they cannot give precise numbers until they are certain, but repeat that “several dozens” have died.
Updated
'No explosive device involved'
At the press conference, officials are being asked about the fire standards at Le Constellation bar and lounge, where the explosion took place, amid reports some people were “trapped” in the building. There have also been unconfirmed reports that fireworks, or pyrotechnics, might have been a cause.
The investigation is ongoing, police say, and they cannot confirm any details, but remain confident it was not a terrorist attack due to the nature of the blaze.
It was not an explosive device that caused the fire.
Officials at the press conference are asking for “prudence” from those in the town, reminding them not to make unnecessary demands on hospitals, which are overwhelmed.
Please leave investigators to do their work, they say.
Many victims have “severe burns”, officials say.
The local hospitals’ intensive care units “are full” and some patients are having to be transferred to hospitals in other cantons for urgent care.
There are several hundred people affected by the blast, and from many different nationalities, officials have said.
They say it will take time to uncover who has been killed and injured, and where they are from.
There is no suggestion that this was a terrorist attack, police say.
'Several dozen' dead and 100 injured
Police confirm that “several dozen” people have died in the explosion, with around 100 injured.
A police official is now speaking. He says everyone involved in the operation is “stunned” by this “painful moment”.
He says that at around 1.30am local time, smoke was noted at the bar and emergency services were called. Fire and police patrols “rapidly reached the site”.
Firefighters have been mobilised from across the entire region.
Those injured have been taken to a number of different hospitals for treatment.
The president of the state council for the canton is speaking now to express condolences to the victims and “grieving families”.
He says the evening should have been a celebration but “turned into a nightmare”.
He says the blaze has “cost the lives of many people”.
Police press conference begins
Police chiefs and other officials are about to give an update on the situation. We will have all the details live here.
'Several' people have died, police confirm
Police confirmed in an earlier statement there have been multiple deaths and injuries:
Several people lost their lives and others were injured,” the police statement said, describing the incident as “serious” and adding that “a major emergency response is underway”.
“A large contingent of police, firefighters, and rescue workers immediately went to the scene to assist the numerous victims,” it said.
“The operation is still ongoing.”
Some reports are putting the death toll at 10, but these are unverified at this point.
Opening summary
Several people have been killed and others injured when an explosion ripped through a bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana, Swiss police said early on Thursday.
About 100 people were in the bar at the time of the blast, police said.
“There has been an explosion of unknown origin,” Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesperson in Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told AFP. “There are several injured, and several dead.”
He said the explosion took place at about 1:30am (0030 GMT) in a bar called Le Constellation, which is popular with tourists, as revellers rang in the new year.
“More than a hundred people were in the building, and we are seeing many injured and many dead,” he said.
We are expecting an update from police in Switzerland shortly and will be covering developments here.
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