The bodies of the 40 victims of a bar fire in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve have been identified by police.
The victims range in age from 14 to 39 years old, with 15 aged under 18. The youngest were a Swiss girl and a French boy, both 14. The group includes people of Swiss, Italian, Romanian, Turkish, Portuguese, French, and Belgian nationalities, as well as a citizen of the UK, France and Israel.
In addition to the 40 killed, 119 others were injured. Most have severe burns – six of them so severe that they have yet to be identified.
A criminal investigation into the French couple who managed Le Constellation bar is under way.
Police said no further details will be released about the victims they had identified out of respect for their relatives.
However, Arthur Brodard’s mother took to Facebook on Saturday night to announce her 16-year-old son, Arthur, was one of the dead.
“We can start our mourning, knowing that he is in peace and in the light,” she said as she appeared visibly upset in a video message. He “has left to party in paradise”, she said.
While Arthur was still presumed missing and information on his whereabouts was scarce, Ms Brodard-Sitre told local newspaper Le Temps that she had been “living a nightmare”.
Some of his friends had been found with burns covering nearly half their bodies, she told the newspaper. “There are no words – they went through hell.”
