(BBC) Around 40 people have been killed and 115 injured in a Swiss bar fire on New Year’s Eve, police say at a press conference.
Sixty people are receiving care at Sion hospital with more being treated elsewhere – a “significant number” are in a critical condition.
The fire started at around 01:30 local time at Le Constellation bar in south-west Switzerland – a local politician says the bar would have had a “young festive population”.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin says the fire is “one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced”.
Some witnesses think “birthday candles” on top of a champagne bottle set fire to the ceiling – when asked by reporters the attorney general says she cannot confirm the cause.”
I managed to break a window,” says one man who escaped the bar. “Half of my clothes were gone. It was crazy”.
Source: BBC