Witnesses Describe Horrific Fire at Swiss Ski Resort

Witnesses are coming forward to describe the deadly blaze at a Swiss ski resort bar, one of the country's worst tragedies with an estimated 40 dead and 115 injured in the wee hours of New Year's Day. Le Constellation in the Swiss Alps resort of Crans-Montana offered a basement bar with a dance floor, and catered more to locals than tourists, the Guardian reports. Its lack of a cover charge attracted younger revelers, including some under 18. One 18-year-old who went into the bar when he saw smoke, fearing his younger brother was inside, tells the BBC, "I saw people burning ... I found people burning from head to foot, no clothes anymore. It was very shocking." His brother was unhurt. Others describe hundreds of people trying to escape through a narrow exit to the outside, and a resident says he saw videos of people being trampled as they fled.

As for the cause of the blaze, it's still unknown, but multiple reports from witnesses indicate a bartender may have been carrying a female server on his shoulders, near the wooden ceiling, and that woman may have had a magnum of champagne in which birthday candles, sparklers, or a flare had been inserted. "In a matter of seconds, the entire ceiling was ablaze. Everything was made of wood," says one woman who was inside at the time. Others speculated charcoal from shisha pipes might have spilled. Either way, combustible gases were quickly produced and ignited so violently and suddenly some believed it had been an explosion; the phenomenon is often referred to as a backdraft or flashover. "The whole ceiling was in flames and the fire spread really fast. It happened in seconds," another woman says.

As the bar turned into an inferno, with music still playing, some revelers broke windows to escape, or used sweaters in an attempt to extinguish the flames. A 16-year-old who used a table to push a windowpane out of its casing describes "total chaos," and tells the AP one of his friends did not make it out alive and more are still missing. Switzerland's president says some families are still waiting for news: "Some don't yet know if their children have died."