"We just want to find him," says Achille Barosi's aunt - the 16-year-old was in Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, when a fire broke out early on New Year's Day
Arthur Brodard's parents are also searching for their son - his mother Laetitia says: "Either I find my son in the morgue, or I find him in critical condition. It's terrible"
Officials say the blaze has killed 40 people and injured 119 others - of those injured, 113 have been formally identified - including 71 Swiss citizens, 14 French and 11 Italians
Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais region, says he knows "each minute that passes without answers" is "unbearable" for victims' relatives
Swiss authorities believe the fire at the ski resort bar was "caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling" but "several hypotheses" are still being investigated
Get in touch via WhatsApp, external or email, external
A video appears to show the beginning of the early morning fire at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.
It shows a fire spreading across the ceiling of a dimly lit bar, before another shot of the building enveloped in flames.
The fire took place at a bar in the Valais region of Switzerland - two hours south of the Swiss capital Bern. The area borders France and northern Italy.
In the heart of the Swiss Alps, the ski resort of Crans-Montana sits in the French-speaking part of the country and is about 100km (62 miles) from the French and Italian borders.
The slopes are to the north-east of the resort which has 140km of piste accessed via 24 lifts.
In relation to other Swiss ski destinations:
An Italian man says he is still waiting to hear from a friend who had been celebrating New Year's Eve at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.
Speaking to Italian public broadcaster Rai News, the man, who hasn't been named, says several acquaintances were inside at the time.
One of them "immediately spotted the fire" and alerted the bodyguards outside, he says.
Several people that had been queuing to get in followed as the bodyguards went downstairs to assess the situation, he adds, but doubled back when they noticed the flames.
The young man says one of his friends "was burned all over" while another was taken to Zurich by helicopter. "Another friend of ours...last night we had no news, he couldn't be found," he says.
"My friends and I, we haven't slept last night, we've barely eaten."
Swiss President Guy Parmelin says "a moment of joy turned into a tragedy that has touched the whole of Switzerland and abroad", after the fire at a New Year's Eve party in Crans-Montana.
It occurred in south-west Switzerland, close to the French border to the west and the Italian border to the south. Both countries have pledged to support their Swiss counterparts.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she's following the situation closely to hear if any Italian nationals were involved, while her foreign minister has offered the use of a Milan hospital burns unit and emergency services personnel from the nearby Aosta Valley.
As we reported a short while ago, French President Emmanuel Macron has also pledged the "full solidarity of France and our fraternal support" to the neighbouring country.
Image source, REUTERS/Denis BalibouseA hearse photographed outside the bar, which has been covered in white fabric as emergency services continue their work
Imogen Foulkes
Reporting from Geneva
As we've just been reporting, a spokesperson for Lausanne University Hospital says they are treating 22 patients with burn injuries.
They say some are being treated on the burns unit, and some are in intensive care. The youngest is reportedly 16 years old.
Meanwhile University Hospital Zurich is currently treating 12 patients for burns. Both hospitals house Switzerland’s specialist burns units.
As Imogen Foulkes just reported, more than 100 injured people have been transported to hospitals across Switzerland.
The director of Lausanne University Hospital says they've taken charge of 22 people so far.
Claire Charmet tells Swiss newspaper 24 Heures the patients, aged 16 to 26 on average, are "the most serious cases".
"The advanced medical post in Crans has been cleared of the most critical cases," Charmet says, adding less critically injured patients could also be transported to Lausanne later.
Of the most severe cases, Charmet says recovery will be "a long and intensive process, lasting several weeks, perhaps even months".
She adds it is "too early to determine" whether any of the patients is at risk, saying the priority has been to "receive patients, identify them, connect them with their families, and ensure that the care process is working".
Image source, ReutersImogen Foulkes
Reporting from Geneva
We’ve been hearing more about from the Swiss authorities about the catastrophic fire in Crans Montana. A team of specialist forensic investigators from Zurich is now at the scene.
Initial evidence does not suggest an attack, the authorities have said, but a rapidly spreading or "flash over" fire, in which anything combustible ignites very quickly.
Finding out exactly how the fire started, and why so many people died, is a matter of urgency.
So too is identifying the victims; the Swiss police say "dozens" are believed to have died, among them tourists, and very many of them young.
Crans Montana’s le Constellation Bar is popular with 16 - 25 year olds, who will have been out enjoying the start of 2026.
Meanwhile more than 100 injured have been transported to hospitals across Switzerland.
In a sign of how serious this incident is, the authorities have appealed to people across the country not to overburden the health service, because emergency wards, and in particular the burns units, are full.
As one emergency worker put it: a time of celebration has become a nightmare.
Image source, Reuters
Silvia Costeloe
Reporting from Crans-Montana
An eyewitness to the fire at Le Constellation tells the BBC how he broke into the burning building to try to save people inside.
"We heard a big explosion and after that we saw a lot of smoke," he says.
"I thought that my little brother was inside so I came and I tried to break the window to help people to exit."
He says once inside he saw people "burning from head to foot, no clothes anymore", adding: "It was very shocking."
The man says firefighters and doctors took over but he tried to help where he could, offering water and clothes to the injured, including giving his jacket to a man with burn injuries.
"It’s very disturbing because I went in this bar every day in the week... just the day I don’t go, it burned."
Rorey Bosotti
Live page editor
Image source, ReutersI've just spoken with Oleh Paska, who's been staying in Crans-Montana with his wife and child. Their hotel is around 50 metres from Le Constellation bar.
Oleh tells me he and his family had just celebrated the arrival of 2026 in their room when they heard a series of explosions.
"We thought someone had fired petards [firecrackers] at the hotel's entrance," Oleh says, adding that in those first few minutes they still thought the noise was just "ordinary celebrations".
They heard someone "crying" outside but initially thought a fight had broken out among the young revellers.
But then emergency services began to arrive and Oleh's wife noticed "different types of sirens" ringing out - signalling the arrival of ambulances, police and firefighters.
Oleh says the area - usually teeming with tourists - is "very quiet" today.
He tells me police are guarding a large cordoned off area around Le Constellation bar as forensic teams examine the scene.
Image source, Oleh PaskaFrench nationals Emma and Albane were ringing in the new year at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana when the fire broke out in the early hours of the morning.
The pair tell BFMTV they believe the blaze was the result of a candle being "held too close to the ceiling, which caught fire".
They claim one of the waitresses had put "birthday candles" on top of some champagne bottles, one of which was then held up.
"In a matter of seconds, the entire ceiling was ablaze. Everything was made of wood," they say.
They say the flames "started to rise very quickly", adding that "the entire ceiling was on fire, even the first floor was on fire" as they tried to make their way outside.
Evacuation was "very difficult", Emma and Albane say, because the escape route out of the room they were in was "narrow" and the stairs leading outside were "even narrower".
"We were very lucky," they add, saying there were "about 200 people trying to get out within 30 seconds through some very narrow steps".
Image source, Police Cantonale ValaisanneThe upper level of "Le Constellation" bar, taken after the fire
Read more: A more in-depth look at what we know so far
Image source, ReutersEmergency workers in Crans-Montana a short time ago
A woman who was in Sion hospital with her mother overnight has told a local newspaper about the moment that victims from the bar fire began to arrive.
The woman says a nurse ordered everyone in the waiting room to leave as the injured turned up.
She tells Le Nouvelliste the nurse asked everyone to come back the following day due to "the arrival of about 30 victims following an explosion in Montana".
"I quickly went outside to clear the access to the emergency room and then it was chaos," she says.
"People were arriving from everywhere, seriously injured people in cars, there was the smell of burning.
"They all left their vehicles in the middle of the access ramp."
Image source, Getty ImagesEmergency teams in Crans-Montana earlier today
Sarah Rainsford
Europe correspondent
The Italian ambassador to Switzerland says it will take weeks to identify the dead from the fire in Crans-Montana.
He was speaking on Italian TV from the scene, where he is now with staff from the consulate in Geneva.
Earlier, the Italian foreign minister had said the identification of victims would be complex and require time, due to the severe burns.
We're seeing multiple French outlets reporting that at least two of the injured in this morning's fire in Crans-Montana are French nationals.
Citing a statement from the Interior Ministry, the outlets say the two nationals "were immediately taken care of by the emergency services".
"The consular teams at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are in permanent contact with the Swiss authorities in case other nationals are concerned," the ministry adds.
And in the last few minutes, French President Emmanuel Macron has tweeted to "convey the full solidarity of France and our fraternal support" to Switzerland and to the "bereaved families and the injured".
In the past hour, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says Milan's Niguarda Hospital has made its major burns unit available to help treat the injured.
He also says emergency services in the Aosta Valley region, which borders Switzerland's Valais region, are standing ready to help out their Swiss counterparts.
As a reminder, Swiss authorities earlier said the local intensive care unit in Valais was full.
Image source, ReutersThe Constellation bar has been covered in white fabric as emergency services continue their work
Local journalist Romaine Morard, who was born in Valais, tells French broadcaster BFMTV the canton is in "a state of shock".
"These are young people who simply went out to have fun and didn't return home," she says.
Morard, a reporter for Le Temps, remembers one of the country's worst tragedies: the Sierre tunnel accident in 2012, which killed 28 people, including 22 children.
Their coach crashed into a wall in a motorway tunnel as the school group returned from a skiing holiday in in Val d'Anniviers, in the Valais region.
"It traumatised the whole country. What I saw there [today] is even worse."
Image source, EPA
Are you in the area? If it’s safe to do so, you can get in touch in the following ways:
In some cases a selection of your comments and questions will be published, displaying your name and location as you provide it unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published.
Police have released video taken after the fire, showing the terrace of Le Constellation bar.
Chairs, benches and their cushions can be seen strewn across the room. It's believed the fire started on a lower floor.
Image source, Police Cantonale ValaisanneWe've just been sent a statement from the UK Foreign Office, shortly after the embassy's tweet.
"Our thoughts are with all those injured and killed in the terrible tragedy in Crans-Montana, and we pay tribute to the Swiss emergency services who are leading the response," a spokesman says.
The situation will continue to be monitored, he adds, with consular staff on standby to support any British nationals affected.
As a reminder, the Swiss authorities say "several" nationalities were affected by the fire in Le Constellation bar in the Crans-Montana resort.
Image source, ReutersThe UK embassy in the Swiss capital of Bern has posted on X:
Swiss emergency services are responding to a fire in Crans-Montana, with nationals from multiple countries likely affected. We continue to monitor the situation.
Whilst we have not been approached for assistance, our staff stand ready to support British nationals abroad 24/7.
If you are a British national in need of consular assistance, you can call us 24/7 on + 44 (0) 20 7008 5000.
