Death toll of Swiss New Year bar blaze rises to 41


  • World
  • Sunday, 01 Feb 2026

Flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial outside the "Le Constellation bar" almost a month after a deadly fire during a New Year's Eve party, in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, January 31, 2026. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

ZURICH, Feb 1 (Reuters) - An ‌18-year-old injured in the New Year bar fire ‌in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana has died, Swiss ‌authorities said on Sunday, taking the death toll of one of the worst disasters in modern Swiss history to 41.

The Swiss national was ‍in hospital in Zurich and died on ‍Saturday, the statement by ‌the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Valais added, ‍without ​providing any further information.

Most of those killed in the blaze at "Le Constellation" bar were teenagers and ⁠some of the 116 people who were injured ‌are still in hospital with severe burns.

The additional victim was a ⁠young man living ‍near the western city of Lausanne, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

On Saturday, hundreds of people marched ‍alongside bereaved parents through the lakeside town ‌of Lutry near Lausanne, carrying a large banner demanding "truth and justice".

"Today, we are just asking for justice and truth and afterwards we will mourn," Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, who lost her 17-year-old son Arthur in the fire, told a crowd of people carrying white roses.

The fire has tested relations with neighbouring ‌Italy, which lost nationals in the blaze and has protested the release on bail of the bar's owner.

Swiss authorities earlier this week ​said they would grant the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office access to evidence gathered.

(Reporting by Emma Farge and Ariane Luthi; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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