A teenager injured in a New year's fire that engulfed a bar in a Swiss ski resort has died in hospital, taking the death toll from the disaster to 41, the local public prosecutor announced Sunday. The day before, several hundred demonstrators marched in Lausanne to demand "justice and truth" over the blaze that also injured 155 people.
The Wallis canton's public prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement issued on Sunday that an 18-year-old Swiss national had died at a hospital in Zurich on 31 January.
"The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1, 2026 has now risen to 41," the statement said.
Pilloud said no further information would be released at this stage by her office, which is investigating the tragedy.
On Saturday, protesters gathered in Lutry, a suburb of Lausanne from where several of the victims who died in the 1 January blaze in the Crans-Montana resort hailed.
You are not alone
"Tristan would have been 18 in four months' time, but I'm also the mother of 155 other victims," one woman who lost her son, Vincianne Stucky, told the crowd as she held up his photo. "We will go to the end," she told French news agency AFP.
She was among family members and friends of those killed taking part in the demonstration. Some held white roses in their hands, others placards reading "You are not alone".
The march started at the stadium of the local football club, which had seven of its players killed in the fire. It then paused before a church whose bells rang out for five minutes as many demonstrators laid flowers, before turning and returning to the stadium.
Switzerland 'devastated' by lives lost in Crans-Montana New Year bar fire
The fire broke out in the basement dance area of the bar Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, which was packed as revellers celebrated the New Year.
Prosecutors believe that sparklers attached to champagne bottles ignited the acoustic insulation foam on the ceiling.
Questions remain
Smartphone videos showed the young people in the bar continuing to party, unaware of the danger they were in until it was too late. Witnesses spoke of panic when the crowd rushed for the sole exit.
Most of those impacted by the fire were Swiss, but a total of 19 nationalities, including French, were among the dead and injured.
A criminal investigation has reportedly been opened against a former official who had been in charge of safety checks of the bar, making him the third person charged, after the bar's owners, a French couple.
Local authorities revealed that no annual safety check had been carried out at the bar since 2019.
Paris prosecutor's office opens investigation into Swiss resort fire
Another bereaved mother in the demonstration, Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, told AFP: "Me, I want to know why our children, including my son, were not able to get out. Why?"
"When you go through a tragedy in which 40 people – 40 children, 40 teens – have gone and another 100 are in rehabilitation or intensive care, there are obviously questions to be asked," said Alexandre Fleury, father of a youngster who remained hospitalised.
He demanded an investigation that is "clear and objective, with competent people" handling it.
The organisers of the march, Allegra Petruzzi, told AFP: "All my classmates were in that fire, and most of them died, but some are still in hospital. It's for them, too, we have to fight."
Switzerland's Federal Office for Civil Protection told AFP on Friday that at its last count, as of Monday, 44 patients were being treated in hospitals abroad. They included 18 in France, 12 in Italy, eight in Germany and six in Belgium.
The Wallis health ministry told AFP that 37 patients were still in Swiss hospitals, as of Monday.
The picture is constantly changing, with patients moving between hospitals for different stages of their treatment, and some patients being readmitted. Some remain in intensive care.
(with AFP)
