New Year celebrations turned to tragedy in Switzerland on Thursday, with dozens of people presumed dead and around 100 others injured in a fire at an Alpine ski resort, police have said.
Authorities said the blaze broke out in the early hours of New Year’s Day at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, one of Switzerland’s most exclusive locales.
Here’s what we know.
Gaetan Lathion, spokesperson for police in the canton of Valais, said the “fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.” He said about 100 people were inside at the time.
The venue lies at the very heart of the luxury ski resort, just a short walk from the bottom station of the lift that takes skiers up into the mountains. It has two bars, a dedicated shisha smoking area and a capacity of 300 people, with terrace space for 40, according to its website. Photos from inside the venue show a dark, cavernous space with a large, brightly lit bar at its center. It was not immediately clear which part of the bar was affected by the fire.
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