Crans-Montana, 03 January (H.S.): Prosecutors investigating Switzerland's most lethal fire in decades pinpointed mini-sparklers or Bengal candles affixed to champagne bottles—hoisted perilously close to the low, foam-insulated basement ceiling—as the probable ignition source for the Thursday pre-dawn inferno at Le Constellation bar, where 40 revellers perished and 119 suffered horrific burns amid a panicked exodus.

Wallis canton chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud announced Friday that footage from partygoers' mobiles—some viral on social media—depicted flames erupting from the soundproofing material as patrons, largely teens and 20-somethings oblivious at first, continued dancing before chaos ensued with screams, window-smashing, and suffocating smoke.

The 300-capacity (plus 40 terrace) hotspot in the chic Valais ski enclave—renovated recently per owners—saw the blaze erupt around 1:30 a.m., 90 minutes post-midnight, trapping basement crowd via a narrow staircase to ground floor; survivors recounted toxic fumes, fractures from stampedes, and inhalation burns taxing hospitals nationwide, with 50 transferred to EU burn units including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Romania.

Wallis health chief Eric Bonvin detailed extremely complex respiratory burns necessitating intubation; of 119 injured, 113 identified (71 Swiss, 14 French, 11 Italian, four Serbs, singles from Bosnia, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Luxembourg), six pending, bodies removal commencing Friday.

French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti—operating since 2015 alongside a second venue—insisted to Tribune de Genève everything was done according to regulations via thrice-decade inspections, cooperating fully on blueprints, capacities, and lists; Jacques absent, Jessica lightly hurt, both witnesses sans culpability yet, as Pilloud scrutinises foam conformity, extinguishers, exits, overcrowding, and sparkler authorisation.

Crans-Montana's international draw—first named fatality 17-year-old Italian golfer Emanuele Galeppini—left teen Arthur Brodard's mother Laetitia anguished 40 hours sans word (Mom, Happy New Year, I love you his last text); Geneva tourist Dejan Bajic evoked heavy village pall. Eyewitnesses like Belgian Edmond Cocquyt saw shrouded bodies, young burn victims shrieking; Mathys dubbed it the apocalypse.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar