Overview
- Valais officials reported roughly 40 deaths and more than 100 injured, many with severe burns, while emphasizing the figures remain provisional and identification will take time.
- An explosion preceded a fast‑spreading blaze around 1:30 a.m. inside the Le Constellation bar during New Year festivities, with more than 100 people inside at the time.
- Hospitals declared emergency conditions as patients were transferred to Zurich, Lausanne, Geneva and other cantons, supported by 10 helicopters, 40 ambulances and about 150 responders.
- Prosecutors launched a judicial investigation that discounts terrorism and examines an accidental origin, with pyrotechnics under scrutiny despite a local fireworks ban.
- Authorities sealed the site with a security perimeter and temporary air exclusion, and consular services are involved given the likelihood of foreign nationals among the victims.