The Albany Gazette - Swiss identify first bodies after bar fire, as sparklers blamed

Dozens of people badly burnt in the fire early Thursday in the glitzy Alpine town were taken to nearby countries for urgent treatment, while authorities pointed the finger at lit sparklers attached to champagne bottles igniting foam on the ceiling.

Police in Switzerland's southwestern Wallis canton said Saturday that investigators identified the remains of four young Swiss nationals who perished in the fire, including a girl and a boy both aged 16.

Police said the bodies had been returned to their families as efforts continue to identify the other victims.

On Friday, the authorities said that 113 of the 119 people who were injured in the blaze had been identified, with most of those hurt remaining in serious condition.

Many of those injured were foreign nationals, and given Crans-Montana's international popularity, non-Swiss citizens are also expected to figure among the dead.

People continued to bring flowers, candles and messages on Saturday to a makeshift memorial near the scene of the tragedy at Le Constellation bar.

"Courage to all the victims' families, we're thinking of Stefan and hoping he's okay; a hero," said one message.

A white sheet, emblazoned with a drawing of a large heart and the words "Courage" and Thank You", had been hung outside the Crans-Montana fire station.

- Search for loved ones -

The disaster has left Switzerland reeling, with families of the overwhelmingly young partygoers waiting for news of their loved ones.

Among those bracing for the worst was Laetitia Brodard, who said that the last text she received from her son, Arthur, was "Mom, Happy New Year, I love you".

"It's been 40 hours. Forty hours since our children disappeared. So now we need to know," she told journalists Friday near the memorial.

The exact number of people who were at Le Constellation when it caught fire remains unclear.

The Crans-Montana website said the venue had a capacity of 300 people plus 40 on its terrace.

Le Constellation's two French managers have been questioned as "witnesses" in the case, with one of them, Jacques Moretti, insisting to the Swiss press that all safety norms were followed.

But the chief prosecutor of the Wallis region, Beatrice Pilloud, said that the standards were among the focuses of the investigation.

Pilloud told reporters Friday that the leading hypothesis was that "sparklers or Bengal candles attached to champagne bottles and lifted too close to the ceiling" had ignited the deadly blaze.

One video shared on social media showed the low wooden ceiling -- covered with soundproofing foam -- catching alight and the flames spreading quickly, as revellers continued to dance, unaware of the death trap they were in.

Once they realised, panic set in.

- 'Highly flammable' -

Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos as people tried to break through the windows to escape, while others, covered in burns, poured out into the street.

Looking at the images of the event shared on social media, experts suggested "highly flammable" soundproofing foam covering the ceiling may have caused a flashover -- a near-simultaneous ignition of everything in an enclosed space.

Nathan, who had been in the bar before the fire, saw burnt people streaming out of the site.

"They were asking for help, crying out for help," he said.

Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he saw bodies "covered with a white sheet" and "young people, totally burnt, who were still alive ... screaming in pain".

Of the injured, Wallis police commander Frederic Gisler said Friday that at least 71 were Swiss, 14 were French, 11 were Italian, and four were from Serbia, along with victims from Bosnia, Belgium, Poland, Portugal and Luxembourg.

But the French foreign ministry said Saturday that it now counted 16 French nationals injured in the blaze, while nine remained missing.

- Identifying victims -

Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, leaving an agonising wait for family and friends, while desperate appeals to find those missing circulated online.

Guido Bertolaso, the regional health chief for Italy's Lombardy region, told reporters that a critically injured 15-year-old girl was expected to arrive in Milan by helicopter Saturday for treatment.

Two other boys believed to be Italian were also at the Zurich burn centre, awaiting DNA testing.

"Why can't we identify them? Because their faces are completely covered with bandages... (and) they are intubated, so they are unable to speak," he said.

"It's very sad, deeply sad," said a French tourist on Saturday in Crans-Montana, skis in hand, who wished to remain anonymous.

But he told AFP it seemed "a familiar scenario".

"A bar that, according to initial reports, wasn't necessarily meeting the standards, and young people who didn't necessarily notice the risks."

(F.Allen--TAG)