Dozens believed killed in fire at Swiss ski resort New Year party

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland, January 2 ------ Dozens are presumed dead after a fire ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana as young revellers rang in the new year with witnesses describing scenes of "panic".

Horrified bystanders told of people trying to break through the windows of the bar to escape, as others, covered in burns, poured into the street. Police, firefighters and rescuers rushed to the popular resort, which is set to host the Ski World Cup from January 30, after the fire broke out in the early hours of New Year's Day. "I am in shock," Alexie Laguerre told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

The 18-year-old had been walking with a group of friends past the Le Constellation bar, a popular spot with young people and tourists, when they noticed smoke and flames emerging from the venue and called the police. "People were running through the flames... People were using chairs to try to break the windows."

Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters that "several dozen people are presumed to have died", while around 100 people had been wounded, many of them seriously. Two young French women, Emma and Albane, told French broadcaster BFMTV that they had been able to escape the "panic" in the bar shortly after the fire broke out. They said "birthday candles" placed on champagne bottles had got too close to the ceiling. "Seconds later, the entire ceiling was burning," one of them told the broadcaster, estimating that there were around 200 people in the venue at the time, mainly aged between 15 and 20.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com