Sawt Falasteen - Around 40 killed as fire ravages Swiss ski resort New Year party

Horrified bystanders described "panic" as people tried to break the windows of the bar to escape, and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.

Police, firefighters and rescuers rushed to the popular resort, which is set to host the Ski World Cup from January 30, after the fire broke out in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters that authorities had counted "around 40 people who have died and around 115 injured, most of them seriously".

Gian Lorenzo Cornado, Italy's ambassador to Switzerland, later told AFP in Wallis that the death toll had risen to 47, but Swiss police said they could not confirm a specific number.

This was "one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced", Guy Parmelin, who took over the Swiss presidency on Thursday, told reporters.

"It constitutes a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions," he said, announcing that flags would be flown at half mast for five days.

- 'No news' -

Thursday evening, around 400 people gathered for a church service in Crans-Montana to honour the victims, and later hundreds more gathered silently in the icy night to lay flowers and light candles near the site of the tragedy.

"There are dead and injured, and we have someone close to us who is still missing. We have no news of them," one of the women, who did not want to be identified, told AFP before laying down a bouquet.

A tourist from New York, who filmed bright orange flames pouring from the bar, told AFP he saw people running and screaming.

Alexis Lagger, an 18-year-old, had been walking with a group of friends past Le Constellation bar, a spot popular with young people and tourists, when they noticed smoke and flames emerging from the venue and called the police.

"People were running through the flames. People were using chairs to try to break the windows," he told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

Authorities said they were still investigating the causes of the fire, which erupted shortly before 1:30 am (0030 GMT), but said they did not believe it had been triggered by an "attack".

Early reports had suggested a large explosion might have caused the fire at Le Constellation, which has a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.

But Wallis's chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said the initial investigation indicated that it was "the fire that caused the explosion", and not the other way around.

Several witness accounts, broadcast by various media, meanwhile seemed to point to sparklers mounted on top of champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a regular "show" put on for patrons.

There were "waitresses with champagne bottles and little sparklers. They got too close to the ceiling, and suddenly it all caught fire," Axel, a witness present at the time of the incident, told the Italian media outlet Local Team.

- Rush to identify victims -

The emergency units at Wallis hospitals quickly filled up, and many of the injured were transported across Switzerland and neighbouring countries.

More than 30 victims were taken to hospitals with specialised burns units in Zurich and Lausanne, and six were taken to Geneva, Switzerland's Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

The European Union said it has been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance, while French President Emmanuel Macron said some of the injured were already being cared for in French hospitals.

Swiss authorities said they were racing to identify the victims, but warned the process "could take several days, even weeks".

"Given the international nature of the Crans resort, we can expect foreign nationals to be among the victims," Gisler said.

The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens figured among the injured, and eight others remained unaccounted for.

People searching for their loved ones were being directed to a convention centre for assistance.

"My son is nowhere to be found," one tearful mother told the 24 Heures daily.

"Nobody knows where he is."

O.Mousa--SF-PST