Around 40 killed, 100 injured in explosion at Switzerland bar

At least 40 people were killed and 100 others were injured after a blast tore through a luxury bar in Switzerland and triggered a massive fire during New Year's Eve celebrations, the Italian Foreign Ministry said, citing Swiss police. However, the police said the toll would not be more specific than "tens". Swiss authorities said the blast, which happened at the basement of the Le Constellation Bar and Lounge in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, was being considered a fire and not a terror attack. More than 150 people were in the bar at the time of the explosion. A fire broke out at 1:30am (00:30 GMT) at Le Constellation, a bar in the centre of the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, police said in a statement on Thursday.

Swiss Alps fire at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana kills up to 40 people and injures over 100.

An explosion in the basement and insufficient emergency exits turned a night of luxury into a nightmare.

Ten helicopters, 40 ambulances, massive response, too little, too… pic.twitter.com/jVF9BBFACg

— TheCommonVoice (@MaxRumbleX) January 1, 2026

Crans-Montana is about 200km south of the Swiss capital, Bern. “There has been an explosion of unknown origin,” Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesperson in Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told the AFP news agency. The bar is a popular tourist venue in the town. A medical source told broadcaster RTS that hospitals in French-speaking Switzerland had been overwhelmed with burn victims. Most of those injured were in a serious condition, regional councillor Mathias Renard said. Police said that some victims were from other countries. Valais hospital’s intensive care ‌unit is full, and patients were being transferred elsewhere, he added.Incidents like this are uncommon in Switzerland – fires and explosions in recent years have been minor.