Tears and Tributes: Switzerland Mourns Bar Fire Victims
Heartbreak grips Switzerland as families mourn 40 victims of a deadly bar fire, with raw emotions, unanswered questions, and a growing criminal investigation.
On the snow-covered street outside St. Christopher's Church, hundreds of people gathered for a special Sunday prayer service for the victims of the New Year's Eve fire at Le Constellation bar.
Many embraced each other, weeping softly, as they remembered the dozens who had died and those still fighting for their lives in hospitals with severe burns.
During the service, several people in the crowd fainted and collapsed to the ground.
All 40 of the deceased have been identified, although their names have not been publicly released. Their bodies are being returned to their families, some of whom had held out hope that their children might be found – injured, but alive.
Now they are receiving the worst possible news.
Since the fire, Laetitia Brodard had been posting pictures of her teenage son, Arthur, online and appealing for help in finding him. On Sunday, she was at the memorial service, where friends comforted her.
“He died that very first day,” Laetitia told me.
In an emotional statement on Facebook, she said that Arthur had “gone to party in heaven.”
The victims' bodies were so badly burned in the fire that identification was difficult. Even some of the injured and hospitalized have not yet been identified – they remain unconscious and unrecognizable.
For the deceased, forensic experts had to use DNA samples and dental records, and the wait was agonizing for the families.
There were many young people in the bar that night, many of them teenagers. The drinking age in Switzerland is 16.
After the Sunday service, some of the survivors joined a silent procession from the church to the bar. Above, in the stunning Swiss Alps, cable cars carried tourists up the mountain for skiing. The site of the fire is still covered with white plastic sheeting, but in front of it, a memorial is piled high with flowers and soft toys, a tribute that continues to grow.
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Among the bouquets of flowers are handwritten notes with names and pictures.
At one point, the crowd erupted in applause: a large group of uniformed firefighters and rescue workers arrived at the memorial and stood holding hands, weeping for those they couldn't save.
For the people of Cran, they are heroes. The local fire commander – who had considered quitting his job after the experience here – told us that he and his colleagues have now become a big family.
"I need them, and they need me," David Vocat said emotionally. "All my thoughts are with the victims and their families. I am so sorry."
We spoke to teenagers who witnessed people fleeing the burning bar, and they described horrific scenes that they say they will never forget.
A criminal investigation has now been launched. The bar owners, a French couple, are suspected of manslaughter, arson, and causing bodily harm through negligence.
Police and prosecutors are examining video footage filmed inside Le Constellation, showing the moment the fire started, with bar staff handing out champagne bottles with sparklers attached, while standing on the shoulders of others.
It appears the sparks ignited the ceiling, which was covered in foam for soundproofing, and the fire spread very quickly.
Investigators will examine whether the foam and other materials met safety standards.
They will also investigate potential overcrowding, access to emergency exits from the basement, and whether fire extinguishers were present.
Some videos show teenagers desperately trying to put out the flames with their T-shirts. Initially, many people didn't realize the extent of the danger and continued dancing instead of fleeing, even filming the fire.
On Sunday, a group of men—some with their faces covered by black scarves—formed a semicircle to remember a club bouncer they called Steffi.
One of them, speaking with difficulty, said, "We are here for our friend. Steffi has chosen his final path. May his soul rest in peace."
Diana, who had joined hands with two other women to pray for the group of friends still in the hospital, said, "It was important to be here with the families. We can't change things, we can only be here."
"We just hope they recover."
"We are not angry," Diana told me. "But we trust that the police will do their job properly, and we hope that justice will be served."
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