Police in Switzerland’s Valais canton said a tribute site for the victims of the New Year’s Eve blaze at Crans-Montana caught fire early Sunday morning.
The makeshift memorial was housed inside a white tent and has been the site where mourners have placed flowers, candles and soft toys for the 41 people who died in a fire during end-of-year celebrations.
More than 100 mainly young people were injured, some of them seriously.
Dozens of candles had been lit inside the tentImage: Maxime Schmid/AFP
What local police have said
Valais police said a call that a fire had broken out was received shortly before 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) and that the Crans-Montana fire brigade immediately responded.
“Thanks to the immediate intervention of the emergency services, the fire was extinguished within a very short time. No one was injured,” Valais police said in a statement.
Police said that several objects were damaged by the flames but the book of condolences had been preserved.
“According to initial findings, the fire broke out in the area of the candles on a table in the center of the memorial. Third-party involvement can be ruled out at this time,” police said.
The Crans-Montana New Years Eve tragedy
Investigators probing the New Year’s blaze at Le Constellation bar believe it began when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were held up too close to ceiling covered with insulation foam, which then caught alight before rapidly spreading.
The French couple who co-owned the bar, Jacques and Jessica M.*, are facing charges of manslaughter, bodily harm and arson, all by negligence.
The head of public safety at Crans-Montana and a former fire safety officer are also under investgation in connection with the bar blaze, which had not had mandatory annual fire inspections between the years 2020 and 2025.
*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
