A fire broke out after midnight at Le Constellation, a popular bar, police said.
LONDON — Around 40 people were killed and 115 others were injured early on New Year’s Day, when a fire ripped through a popular bar in a resort town in the Swiss Alps, police said.
The Swiss president said the fire is «one of the worst tragedies our country has experienced.»
A blaze of «undetermined origin» broke out at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana at about 1:30 a.m. local time, the Cantonal Police of Valais said in a statement.
Rescuers and fire-fighters work at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana on Jan. 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Investigators were working on Thursday to determine the cause of the fire, officials said during a press conference.
A criminal investigation into the fire has been launched by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Canton of Valais, but officials said the possibility of a terrorist attack has been ruled out.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin inspects the area where a fire ripped through the bar Le Constellation in the Swiss Alps town of Crans-Montana, January 1, 2026.
Alessandro Della Valle/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
«What should have been a moment of joy turned into a tragedy in Crans-Montana last night, a tragedy that affects all of Switzerland and the world,» Guy Parmelin, the minister who assumed the rotating Swiss presidency on Thursday, said in German on social media. «The Federal Council has taken note of this tragedy with profound dismay.»
Parmelin said flags will be flown at half-mast for the next five days to honor those killed.
A mourner gestures in front of flowers and candles laid near the site where a fire ripped through a crowded bar during New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana, January 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Officials described the emergency response as «major.»
Popular Reads
Stephane Ganzer, head of the Valais Cantonal Department of Security, Institutions and Sport, said 42 ambulances, 13 helicopters and three disaster trucks raced to the scene.
Rescuers are seen at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana in Switzerland on Jan. 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais state council, said most of those injured are in a «serious state.»
A no-fly zone was put in place over Crans-Montana, police said. The resort town is popular with skiers and sits in Switzerland’s southern Sierre District in the Canton of Valais.
Police officers walk at the site of a fire that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, on Jan. 1, 2026.
Maxime Schmid/AFP via Getty Images
Police have not released the identities of those who were killed in the blaze. Officials said it was likely that some of the deceased were tourists who traveled to the Alpine town to ski and celebrate New Year’s Eve.
The French Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement that at least two French nationals were among the injured. Both were being treated in local hospitals, the ministry said. French officials were «in constant contact with the Swiss authorities in case other nationals are affected,» the ministry added.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi-Burridge contributed to this report.
