Swiss police correct the injury total after identification work in Crans-Montana
Swiss police said Monday they have identified all 116 people injured in a fire that tore through a New Year’s celebration in a crowded bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and put the total at 116.
Police said more than two-thirds of the injured remained in hospitals, and they later gave a specific figure: 83 of the injured were still in medical care. They did not provide further details or specify ages.
Authorities had previously given a total of 119 injured, but Swiss police said three people admitted to hospitals on the night of the disaster were linked in error to the fire at the Le Constellation bar. Police said the updated total reflects that correction.
Investigators and authorities also previously said 40 people were killed in the blaze. They said Sunday evening that they had completed identification of the 40 victims, with the youngest among them aged 14.
Who was injured, according to a police statement
A police statement said the injured include 68 Swiss citizens and 21 French nationals, along with 10 Italians, four Serbs and two Poles. It also listed one injured person each from Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal and the Republic of the Congo.
The statement also said there were four dual nationals among the injured: of France and Finland, France and Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, and Italy and the Philippines.
The severity of burns, police said, made it difficult to identify some victims. Families were required to supply authorities with DNA samples.
Fire suspected to have been ignited by candles near the ceiling
Investigators have said they believe festive sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire when they came too close to the ceiling. The fire broke out at about 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
Criminal investigation opened for bar managers
Swiss authorities opened a criminal investigation into the bar managers, according to reporting from the region. The chief prosecutor for the Valais region said the two managers are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing a fire.
Italian authorities repatriate five victims’ remains
On Monday, Italian authorities flew home the bodies of five victims from the airport in Sion, the regional capital. Officials stood quietly as Swiss police pallbearers carried coffins through a line of firefighters and soldiers to an Italian Air Force C-130 cargo plane, according to the report, with mourners hugging before relatives boarded the aircraft.