‘People were using chairs to break down the windows’ - Swiss chalet fire witness

Survivors and witnesses of the ski resort fire that left “several dozens” presumed dead recounted the harrowing experience after the Swiss chalet they were in caught fire shortly after.   

"I am in shock," Alexie Laguerre told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.  

The 18-year-old had been walking with a group of friends past the Le Constellation bar, a popular spot with young people and tourists, when they noticed smoke and flames emerging from the venue and called the police.  

"People were running through the flames... People were using chairs to try to break the windows." 

Alex, 21, meanwhile told RTS that he had arrived at the scene shortly after a loud explosion sounded.  

Enveloped in a strong smell of gas mixed with the smell of melted plastic, he said he saw people fleeing the bar with burns and "people screaming for help". 

Then he said he remembered that there was only a narrow set of stairs up from a large basement locale in the building, and worried that dozens might remain trapped.  

“That sent shivers down my spine," he said. 

In the early hours of January 1 a fire ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana with witnesses describing scenes of "panic". 

Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters that "several dozen people are presumed to have died", while around 100 people had been wounded, many of them seriously. 

Authorities said they were still investigating the causes of the fire, which erupted shortly before 1.30am, but said they did not believe it had been caused by an "attack". 

The emergency unit at the main hospital in the Wallis was full, with the injured being transported to various hospitals across Switzerland. 

More than a dozen victims had been transported to the Zurich University Hospital in northern Switzerland, while at least 22 people suffering from serious burns had been taken to main hospital in Lausanne, and six had been taken to Geneva, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported. 

Guy Parmelin, who took over the Swiss presidency on Thursday, decried a "terrible tragedy". 

"What was meant to be a moment of joy has turned the first day of the year in Crans-Montana into a day of mourning affecting the entire country and beyond," he said on X. 

Swiss authorities told reporters that it was too early to provide an exact number of victims. 

They however acknowledged that given Crans-Montana's popularity with tourists around the world, they expected a number of foreign nationals to be among the dead. 

At least two French citizens were among the injured, according to initial reports from the French foreign ministry. 

Two young French women, Emma and Albane, told French broadcaster BFMTV that they had been able to escape the "panic" in the bar shortly after the fire broke out. 

They said "birthday candles" placed on champagne bottles had got too close to the ceiling. 

"Seconds later, the entire ceiling was burning," one of them told the broadcaster, estimating that there were around 200 people in the venue at the time, mainly aged between 15 and 20.