About 40 people were killed when fire tore through a crowded bar during a New Year’s Eve party in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, according to information Italian authorities received from Swiss police.

Swiss officials had declined to confirm a specific figure earlier on Thursday, saying that “tens” were presumed dead with around 100 injured, most of them seriously.

Witness accounts and officials indicated the blaze appears to have started when a lit “fountain candle” on a champagne bottle was held too close to a wooden ceiling.

Two young French women who were inside Le Constellation bar told France’s BFM TV they saw the fire begin in the basement section of the club after a bottle containing “birthday candles” was raised toward the ceiling.

“The fire spread across the ceiling super quickly,” one of the women, who identified themselves as Emma and Albane, told BFM TV. The pair escaped via a narrow staircase to the ground floor. Minutes later, the fire had reached that level too.

BFM broadcast video showing a waitress carrying a champagne bottle with a lit fountain candle through the bar, though the footage did not capture the fire igniting.

Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, said local authorities told him a firework was let off inside the bar, setting fire to the ceiling. He was in Crans-Montana, where Italians had gathered seeking information about missing relatives.

Local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said a full investigation had been opened into the incident at the bar, which company records show was owned by a French couple.

‘People lying on the ground, probably dead’

Samuel Rapp, a 21-year-old local, described the aftermath: “There were people screaming, and then people lying on the ground, probably dead. They had jackets over their faces—well, that’s what I saw, nothing more.”

Witnesses said the injured were treated in improvised triage centers set up in a nearby bar and a UBS bank branch. Many suffered additional harm after emerging from the heat into freezing night air.

A waiter at a nearby restaurant said first responders approached staff overnight asking for tablecloths to cover bodies and conceal them from onlookers.

“And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth as much as possible,” said witness Dominic Dubois.

Authorities said 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances were deployed. Patients were dispatched to hospitals in Sion, Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich.

Identification expected to take time

By Thursday morning, forensic tents stood behind white screens in front of the cordoned-off bar. Small groups gathered, some in tears or carrying flowers.

“I know someone who might have been among the victims and I can’t reach her,” said resident Karine Spreng. “I’m going to try to contact other people who know this woman to see if she is still alive.”

Officials said the grim task of identifying badly burned bodies would take considerable time, and that victims came from several countries. A helpline has been opened for relatives.

“The first responders arrived at a scene of chaos, at a dramatic scene,” said Stephane Ganzer, head of security for Valais canton.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin expressed shock at the disaster, which came less than a year after a nightclub fire in North Macedonia killed 59 people.

“What was meant to be a moment of joy turned, on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana, into mourning that touches the entire country and far beyond,” he said.