Following a fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, 40 victims have been identified and their bodies have been returned to their families.
The Valais cantonal police, the Victim Identification Team (DVI) and the Institute of Forensic Medicine have identified 16 more people who died in the fire at the “Le Constellation” bar on January 1, 2026.
The victims include four Swiss women aged 18, two 15-year-olds and two 14-year-olds; six Swiss men aged 31, 20, 18, 17 and two 16-year-olds; two 16-year-old Italians; a 16-year-old with dual citizenship (Italy and the United Arab Emirates); an 18-year-old Romanian; a 39-year-old Frenchman; and an 18-year-old Turkish man.
24 deceased have been identified to date.
Efforts to identify all victims, both deceased and injured, are ongoing. The Valais Cantonal Police will release any new information as soon as it becomes available.
Out of respect for the families, no further information will be released for the time being, the Valais Cantonal Police said.
The Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP) said that, with the strong support of numerous European countries, 35 patients have been transferred from Swiss hospitals to specialist clinics in Belgium, Germany, France and Italy since 2 January, as part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Several countries have offered to help Switzerland.
After the fire in Crans-Montana, all injured people were given emergency medical care in Swiss health facilities. However, due to the large number of patients with severe burns, Switzerland does not have sufficient capacity to provide long-term care for all injured people. International assistance has therefore been requested through the UCPM, a mechanism designed to respond to exceptional crisis situations. Given the urgency, medical transfers were prepared and implemented in a very short time.
Within the framework of the UCPM mechanism, on 2 and 3 January, 35 patients were transferred to specialized European hospitals – seven to Belgium, seven to Germany, 15 to France and six to Italy. Three more patients are planned to be transported today, two to Italy and one to France.
Among the transferred patients are both foreign and Swiss citizens. When it comes to Swiss patients, priority is given to hospitals in countries in the immediate vicinity of Switzerland, taking into account possible family ties in the receiving countries. All transfers were carried out with the consent of the families.
The transport of patients was carried out by ambulance planes and helicopters, with the involvement of medical experts from Italy, France, Romania and Luxembourg. Specialized teams from France and Italy are deployed in Lausanne and the canton of Valais, where they provide support to Swiss hospitals and participate in the coordination of medical transfers. Liaison officers from the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) at the National Alert Centre (CENAL) have also been deployed in Bern.
The cooperation with the ERCC and international rescue and medical teams was assessed as extremely efficient.
Assistance to Switzerland within the framework of the UCPM has been offered by numerous European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Hungary. These countries have made hospital capacities available, provided air transport of patients or sent specialized teams for burn assessment.
By 3 January, most of the emergency medical transfers had been carried out, while the remaining transports are taking place through regular medical and administrative channels. The possibility of deploying assistance through the UCPM remains open for a period of 90 days from the date of the request, and the assessment of the national situation and possible additional needs continues to be carried out by CENAL within the framework of the KATAMED network.
The management of a mass influx of seriously injured patients, which necessarily implies international cooperation, is an integral part of European emergency plans. These plans rely on national mechanisms, and in this case in Switzerland, procedures that were already under development within the framework of the establishment of the KATAMED network were also used.
