The latest victim succumbing to injuries was an 18-year-old Swiss national.By News AgenciesPublished On 1 Feb 20261 Feb 2026Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareA teenager injured in the fire that engulfed a Swiss Alpine bar during New Year celebrations has died in hospital, according to Swiss authorities, increasing the death toll of one of the worst disasters in the country’s modern history to 41.Saturday’s death was announced a month after the inferno at the ski resort of Crans-Montana. Another 115 were injured, most of whom remain in various hospitals.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31,” the Wallis canton’s public prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a brief statement.“The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1, 2026 has now risen to 41.”Pilloud said no further information would be released at this stage by her office, which is investigating the incident.Those killed in the disaster were aged 14 to 39, but the majority were teenagers. Only four were aged over 24.Among the dead are 23 Swiss nationals, including one French-Swiss dual national, and 18 foreigners.Public prosecutors believe the fire started when revellers raised champagne bottles with sparklers attached too close to sound insulation foam on the ceiling of the bar’s basement.Authorities are looking into whether the foam conformed to regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar. They say fire safety inspections had not been carried out since 2019.Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the owners – French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti – on suspicion of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and causing a fire by negligence. Advertisement The court of compulsory measures in the southwestern Valais region on January 12 ordered three months of pretrial detention for Jacques Moretti, but on January 23 ordered his release on bail.The Crans-Montana municipality’s current head of public safety and a former Crans-Montana fire safety officer are also under criminal investigation.Following the fire, seriously wounded patients were …
