Swiss Probers Say Flares Atop Wine Bottles Caused Deadly Bar Fire

Swiss investigators said that they believe sparkling flares placed atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a ski resort after coming too close to a crowded bar’s ceiling, Jamey Keaten, Stefanie Dazio and John Leicester reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Forty people were killed and another 119 were injured as the blaze ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the Crans-Montana ski resort. (Photo: Christian David Wikimedia Commons)

Forty people were killed and another 119 injured as the blaze ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the Crans-Montana ski resort while revelers were celebrating New Year’s Eve, authorities said.

Among those inside was Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, who said he felt as though he was suffocating inside the Swiss Alpine bar where moments earlier he had been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of others.

Clavier escaped by forcing a window open with a table, but about 40 other partygoers died, including one of his friends.

Many of the injured were in their teens to mid-20s, police said. Late Thursday, mourners left candles and flowers at an impromptu memorial near the bar, while hundreds gathered to pray for the victims at the nearby Church of Montana-Station.