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Crans-Montana Bar Fire Death Toll Rises to 41 After 18-Year-Old Dies

Prosecutors are investigating negligence and arson after reports that sparklers ignited a foam ceiling and an emergency exit was locked.

Overview

  • Authorities said the 18-year-old died in a Zurich hospital about a month after the New Year’s Eve blaze at Le Constellation, bringing the confirmed death toll to 41.
  • The Valais prosecutor continues criminal probes into negligent homicide, bodily harm and arson linked to the nightclub fire.
  • Reporting points to party fountains placed in champagne bottles igniting the bar’s foam ceiling, and operators have admitted an emergency exit was locked.
  • Clinicians credit rapid triage, transfers to specialized burn centers and novel treatments—including fish-skin grafts, cultured skin, enzymatic debridement and experimental oxygen-binding gels—for unexpectedly high survival among young patients.
  • Hospitals in Zurich and Lausanne still treat multiple severely burned victims, as the community mourns and the bar owner, released on bail, denies responsibility.