Imagine ringing in the New Year with friends, only to be trapped in a blazing inferno with no way out.
According to the Daily Mail, a catastrophic fire at Le Constellation ski bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on New Year's Eve claimed 40 lives and left 119 injured, sparking a criminal probe into the venue's French owners for suspected negligence, bodily harm, and arson.
The tragedy unfolded at 1:30 a.m. on January 1, 2026, when sparklers nestled in champagne bottles ignited insulation foam on the basement ceiling, turning a festive celebration into a deadly disaster.
Video evidence reveals a chilling scene: partygoers, many of them teenagers, obliviously continuing their revelry as flames devoured the ceiling, squandering precious moments to flee.
Escape was a nightmare, with survivors forced to navigate a narrow staircase from the basement, choking on toxic smoke as the fire raged.
Compounding the horror, an emergency exit in a separate smoking room was reportedly inaccessible—allegedly a longstanding issue at the bar.
Andrea, a 31-year-old bartender and regular at Le Constellation, told Bild, "There was an entrance that also served as an exit, and there was an emergency exit, but whenever I was there, it was always locked."
Let's unpack that: if true, this isn’t just negligence, it’s a reckless disregard for basic safety that turned a night of joy into a death trap—hardly the kind of oversight any business should get a pass on in today’s hyper-regulated world.
Andrea further revealed the smoking room with the emergency exit doubled as storage, cluttered with a sofa blocking the door and discarded items piling up outside, painting a picture of cavalier management at best.
Among the identified victims are Emanuele Galeppini, a 17-year-old Italian golf prodigy, and Chiara Costanzo, a 16-year-old from Milan, with heartbroken families mourning losses that defy comprehension. Chiara’s father, Andrea, shared his anguish with an Italian newspaper, saying, "I felt a great emptiness after receiving a call that should never come to a father."
He added, "Until the very end we hoped that Chiara was among the injured admitted to the hospital but not yet identified," a gut-wrenching reminder of the false hope families cling to in such tragedies, only to be crushed by reality.
The criminal investigation, launched on January 4, 2026, targets owners Jacques Moretti, 49, and Jessica Moretti, 40, as authorities probe whether their alleged failure to maintain safe exits contributed to the carnage.
With 30 victims still unidentified and five of the most seriously injured unnamed, families of the missing—like Charlotte Niddam, 15, and Arthur Brodard, 16—endure an agonizing wait, while officials prioritize identification amidst growing frustration over the lack of transparency.
State councillor Stephane Ganzer called the identification process a top priority, acknowledging the "unbearable wait" families face, yet one can’t help but wonder if bureaucratic red tape is adding insult to injury in a crisis demanding urgency over progressive niceties.