Switzerland activates EU civil protection mechanism after fire during New Year celebrations

BRUSSELS, January 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Swiss authorities activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism this Thursday after the fire in a bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort during the New Year’s party, which left around forty dead and more than a hundred injured.

The European Commissioner responsible for crisis management, Hadja Lahbib, who announced Switzerland’s decision through her profile on the social network X, assured that Brussels was in contact with the Swiss authorities to provide medical assistance to the victims. He also expressed his condolences to those affected, their families and the rescuers involved.

In this sense, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who said she was “deeply saddened” by what happened and who echoed the activation of the mechanism, affirmed that “Europe is in full solidarity with Switzerland”.

For its part, the Belgian government has indicated that it “will act in solidarity with the Swiss authorities” within the framework of the aforementioned mechanism. Thus, it indicated that it would offer to accommodate five seriously burned patients and two requiring intermediate care in its hospitals.

His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Prévot, added that they will send a medical support team on Friday morning made up of a team leader, two doctors and two nurses specializing in severe burns.