Overview
- The explosion and fast-spreading fire erupted around 1:30 a.m. at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, with roughly a hundred people inside for New Year’s festivities.
- Officials report a provisional toll of around 40 dead and about 100 or more injured, many critically, with exact figures pending formal identification.
- Valais prosecutors are leading the investigation, which excludes terrorism and treats a pyrotechnics-linked accident as the working hypothesis while the origin remains undetermined.
- A large-scale response deployed more than 40 ambulances and at least 10 helicopters, hospitals in Sion and other cities received transfers, and the scene and airspace remain closed.
- Victim identification—supported by Zurich forensic teams—is ongoing, authorities expect foreign nationals among the casualties, and fireworks had been banned in the resort.