Le Constellation, a bar in the resort town of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, posted the video on YouTube showing waitresses in helmets moving through the dark, crowded club carrying bottles topped with sparkling candles.<\/p>\n
In the footage<\/a>, the bottles appear to be held high, at times nearly touching the ceiling.<\/p>\n Authorities surround the area around the bar Le Constellation, after a fire ripped through the venue during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana.\u00a0 (Maxime Schmid \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n EXPLOSION AT PENNSYLVANIA SENIOR HOME PROMPTS MASS CASUALTY RESPONSE<\/a><\/p>\n The video surfaced following a deadly blaze that tore through the basement nightclub at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday during a New Year\u2019s Eve celebration.<\/p>\n At least 40 people were killed, and 119 others were injured, many seriously, when flames and smoke spread rapidly through the packed venue.<\/p>\n According to two witnesses, a bartender was carrying a female staff member on his shoulders while she held a champagne bottle fitted with a lit sparkler or flare near the wooden ceiling above the bar area.<\/p>\n Moments later, fire erupted overhead.<\/p>\n Emergency crews and medical aircraft are seen at a regional airport in Switzerland as victims of a deadly New Year\u2019s Eve bar fire in the Alpine resort town of Crans-Montana were transported for treatment. (Reuters\/Lisa Leutner)<\/p>\n OVERNIGHT FIRE AT INDIA NIGHTCLUB LEAVES 25 DEAD<\/a><\/p>\n Valais Attorney General Beatrice Pilloudsaid confirmed on Friday the boozy fireworks were likely the cause, with the flames triggering a violent ignition of combustible gases known as a flashover, causing the flames to spread suddenly.<\/p>\n “The whole ceiling was in flames, and the fire spread really fast. It happened in seconds,” two survivors later told the French broadcaster BFMTV.<\/p>\n Axel Clavier, 16, of Paris, said he felt as though he was suffocating as smoke filled the club.<\/p>\n Clavier told The Associated Press<\/a> he escaped by using a table to force a plexiglass pane out of its frame amid what he described as “total chaos.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He also said he saw waitresses arrive with champagne bottles and sparklers.<\/p>\n FIRE TEARS THROUGH HONG KONG HOUSING COMPLEX, KILLING AT LEAST 13 WITH OTHERS REPORTED TRAPPED<\/a><\/p>\n Police officers and first responders stand next to a vehicle on the site of a fire that ripped through the bar Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.\u00a0 (Maxime Schmid\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n As of Friday afternoon, no arrests have been confirmed.<\/a><\/p>\n Pilloud said investigators will work to determine if anyone bears criminal liability for fire by negligence, homicide by negligence, or injuries by negligence.<\/p>\n Since the tragedy, hundreds of people have gathered outside the burned-out venue<\/a> in Crans-Montana, laying flowers and candles as families waited for news of missing loved ones.<\/p>\n Italian authorities said the death toll could be as high as 47, Reuters reported<\/a>, citing information provided by Swiss officials, who continue working to identify bodies.<\/p>\n![\"Area](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/area-around-bar-switzerland-fire.jpg\")
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