Rescue aircraft evacuates victims of Swiss ski resort bar fire

Over 40 people died and more than 100 were injured in a New Year's Eve bar fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, as authorities continue investigating the cause. Medical teams airlifted victims from the scene for treatment and transport.

Reuters

2 January 2026 at 13:49:41

Swiss Air-Ambulance plane prepares to depart from the Sion airport, following a fire and an explosion at the "Le Constellation" bar, during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, in Sion, Switzerland, January 2, 2026.

Lisa Leutner/Reuters

Medical staff and airport personnel carried victims of the fire at a Swiss ski resort bar onto a Swiss Air-Ambulance plane at Sion Airport on Friday (January 2).

The fire at the "Le Constellation" bar killed more than 40 people and injured more than 100 during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland.

The bodies of those killed in the fire have now all been removed from the bar, a Swiss official told Reuters. Police were still on site to continue investigations into the cause of the tragedy, which Swiss authorities said they were treating as a fire, not an attack.

Some accounts from survivors and footage broadcast on social media suggested that the ceiling of the bar's basement may have caught fire when sparkling candles got too close.

Production: Fatos Bytyci, Anita Kobylinska/Reuters

Medical staff and airport personnel carried victims of the fire at a Swiss ski resort bar onto a Swiss Air-Ambulance plane at Sion Airport on Friday (January 2).