Teenagers as young as 14 and 15 are among those who died in a New Year’s Eve bar fire that killed 40 people in Switzerland, police say, as the Pope offered his sympathies to the victims and their families.
Police in Valais said they had identified 16 more of those who died in the blaze in Crans-Montana, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history.
The newly identified victims included 10 Swiss citizens, two Italians, one person with dual Italian-UAE citizenship, one Romanian, one person from France and one from Turkey, Valais police said.
No names were released.
Hundreds of mourners attended a church service at the Chapelle Saint-Christophe in the town on Sunday morning where Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey said condolences had poured in from around the world, including from the pontiff.
“Countless people join us – people whose hearts are broken,” Lovey told the service.
“Many expressions of sympathy and solidarity reach us.
“Pope Leo XIV joins in our sorrow,” he added.
“In a moving message, he expresses his compassion and his care for the victims’ families and strengthens the courage of all who are suffering.”
Hundreds of people then marched in silence to honour the victims of the fire at the Swiss Alpine resort.
Sombre mourners, many with reddened eyes, filed silently out of the chapel to organ music after the hour-long Mass.
Some exchanged hugs, others applauded, before joining the silent march up the hill to Le Constellation bar.
Many hundreds of people, some cradling flower bouquets, walked in the dense snaking procession in the bright sunlight past shuttered stores.
Up on the mountain overlooking the town, snow machines sent plumes of white flakes into the air.
At the top of the street, in front of Le Constellation that is still largely shielded from view by white screens, the swelling crowd stood in near total silence, some weeping.
Then they broke out into sustained applause – hands in gloves and mittens against the cold – as a stream of mourners and well-wishers deposited flower bouquets at a makeshift memorial piled with flowers, cuddly toys and other tributes.
The youngest person identified so far is a 14-year-old Swiss girl while two 15-year-old girls, also from Switzerland, were among the dead.
Ten of the other bodies identified on Sunday were teenagers aged 16 to 18, police said.
Also identified were two Swiss men aged 20 and 31, and a French man aged 39.
In total, police have identified 24 of those who died in the blaze in the mountain resort.
The mother of a 16-year-old Swiss boy Arthur Brodard confirmed overnight that he was among those killed.
“Now we can start our mourning, knowing he is in peace,” Laetitia Brodard-Sitre said on her Facebook page.
Late on Saturday, police identified two Swiss women aged 24 and 22, along with two Swiss men aged 21 and 18.
Switzerland will hold a day of mourning on Friday, President Guy Parmelin said on Sunday, with church bells ringing across the country and a minute’s silence planned.
“In this moment of reflection, everyone in Switzerland can personally remember the victims of the disaster,” Parmelin told newspaper Sonntagsblick.
The fire likely started when “fountain candle” sparklers were held aloft too close to the ceiling at Le Constellation bar, the region’s chief prosecutor has said.
In the fire, 119 people were injured including many with severe burns.
The Swiss government said on Sunday that 35 patients have been transferred from hospitals in Switzerland to specialised clinics in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy.
“Due to the large number of patients with severe burns, the capacities for the best possible long-term treatment in Switzerland are not sufficient. Switzerland has therefore sought international support,” the Federal Office for Civil Protection said.
Foreigners and Swiss patients were among those flown abroad and specialist burns assessment teams from France and Italy have been drafted in to help Swiss hospitals, the office said.
Two people who ran the bar are under criminal investigation on suspicion of offences including homicide by negligence, prosecutors said on Saturday.
with AP
https://thewest.com.au/news/disaster-and-emergency/numerous-teens-among-dead-identified-in-swiss-bar-blaze-c-21207840
