A devastating fire that ripped through a nightclub in the Swiss Alps has left families in anguish as they wait for news of missing teenagers, some as young as 14. The inferno at the Le Constellation bar in the luxury ski resort of Crans-Montana in south-west Switzerland turned New Year's Eve celebrations into a nightmare, claiming at least 47 lives and injuring 115 others.
An Agonising Wait for Families
Distraught parents are facing an unbearable wait to discover the fate of their loved ones after the blaze erupted in the early hours of Thursday. The severity of the burns suffered by the predominantly young revellers in the basement venue is so great that Swiss officials have warned it could take days to formally identify all the victims. Foreign embassies are urgently working to determine if their nationals were among those caught in one of the worst tragedies in modern Swiss history.
Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, stated that all but five of the 112 injured have now been identified. However, Swiss authorities have yet to release a full list of names. Six Italians are still missing with 13 hospitalised, while eight French nationals are unaccounted for and a further nine are injured.
Desperate Pleas for Missing Youngsters
The first victim to be publicly named was 17-year-old Emanuele Galeppini, an Italian teenage golfer. Among the many still missing are several teenagers, prompting desperate appeals from their families on social media and television.
Alice Kallergis, a 15-year-old Greek national and permanent resident of Switzerland, has not been seen since the fire broke out around 1:30 am local time. Her brother shared a plea for information, stating simply: 'We have no news.'
A French mother named Laetitia has been searching for over 30 hours for her 16-year-old son, Arthur Brodard. 'I don't know which hospital he is in. I don't know which morgue he is in,' she told BFMTV, after checking hospitals in vain. She defended the decision to let teenagers celebrate, saying, 'We're not irresponsible parents... All the parents knew where their children were.'
Sisters Alicia Gonset, 15, and Diana Gonset, 14, were also reported missing by their family in a social media post. Furthermore, a French grandfather, Pierre Pralong, made a televised appeal for information about his missing 22-year-old granddaughter, Émilie Pralong, who was at the club with friends.
Investigation and National Grief
Initial accounts from survivors and social media footage suggest the basement ceiling may have caught fire after sparklers were brought too close. Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the disaster as 'one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced,' noting it had 'cut short many young lives.'
The community in Crans-Montana and nations across Europe are now united in grief, as the complex process of identification and supporting the injured continues. The search for answers and for the missing remains the priority for heartbroken families.
