two young French women recount the panic during the deadly fire in Crans-Montana (Switzerland)

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Two young French women recount the panic they felt during the deadly fire in a bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, last New Year’s Eve.

The fire was started by sparklers placed in champagne bottles which reached the wooden ceiling and spread rapidly within seconds.

The evacuation was chaotic due to a small door, and some people had to break windows to escape; Among the injured are at least two French people and twelve Italians.

Swiss authorities report “dozens of deaths” and around a hundred injured, while France and Italy express their solidarity and concern for their affected citizens.

Two young French women who were at the bar of the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana where a deadly fire broke out this New Year’s Eve have recounted how the fire broke out and spread, how they fled and the panic which was generated among the participants who were trying to escape.

“everyone was shouting“, underlined one of these two young women this Thursday while telling the French channel BFMTV what they experienced and that the origin of the drama was flares or pyrotechnic devices made in certain champagne bottles.

Emma and Albanewho were celebrating the New Year at the “La Constellation” bar, noticed that the fire had started when one of these flares approached the ceiling, which was made of wood.

Police officers near Le Constellation pub, where the fire broke out.

“In a few dozen seconds“, said one of them, The flames spread throughout the nightclub.which was located in the basement of a premises consisting of two floors. Then the fire also spread to the ground floor within two or three minutes.

The two young French girls ran out shouting and, when they turned around, they saw that there were several people burningout of the approximately 200 they estimate to be in the bar at the time of the incident.

One of them fell down the stairs, pushed by a movement of those who wanted to evacuate the bar, and injured her knee.

As the door was very small To give way to everyone who wanted to escape the flames, one of the people present broke one of the windows.

According to the story of these young girls, the firefighters and the police arrived “a few minutes” after the start of the tragedy which, according to their story, seemed accidental to them. They didn’t hear any explosions.

Swiss authorities announced that The fire left “dozens dead” and “around a hundred people injured, many seriously”.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had information that at least two French people were among the injured, who were immediately rescued by Swiss health services, without excluding other victims.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, He expressed on his

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that at least 12 nationals were injured in the fire and many others are still missing.

“The situation is dramatic and could get worse,” he warned on public news channel RAI, highlighting the difficulty of identifying those involved.