A major fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, killed at least 40 people and left around 115 others injured, many seriously, authorities and local media have reported. Dozens of those hurt remain in hospital, with some in critical condition, as emergency services continue to treat the wounded. One survivor, Eliot Thelen of Luxembourg, spoke to RTL about his experience.
Like many other young people, Eliot spent New Year’s Eve with four friends at the Crans Montana bar to celebrate the start of 2026. However, a fire broke out around 1.30am in the basement, while Eliot was on the ground floor, not far from the exit:
“Suddenly, everyone came running upstairs, and I did not understand anything. Because it did not seem like panic had erupted. It was simply that people ran upstairs, and I thought, okay, they are just going outside. But then suddenly I turn around, and the flames burst into my face”
The force of the fire knocked him to the ground:
“I lay in the doorway. I think two or three people were lying on top of me, preventing me from getting outside. [...] my feet were stuck. For about three or four seconds, I thought, okay, this is it. The fire was already raging above me, I could not breathe anymore, and I was trying to hold my breath instead.”
Eliot had a lot of luck on his side that evening; except for light burns to his hand and stomach, he is in good condition. However, he will not be able to forget the scenes of that evening anytime soon. The worst, he recounts, were the hours after the tragedy.
“That was a horror scene. A real nightmare. Afterwards, I immediately went searching for my friends. I found them quite quickly, but they were suffering terribly.”
Two of his friends are hospitalised with severe burns, among them is the French football player Tahirys Dos Santos, one of his teammates in Metz. Eliot was not the only Luxembourger who spent New Year’s Eve in the popular Swiss ski resort.
Tim Asselborn was also in Crans Montana with six other friends. They were not in the Le Constellation bar on that evening; however, they drove past it half an hour after the fire had erupted, not knowing what had occurred there.
“There were ambulances and fire brigades everywhere. We were in the car in a roundabout facing the bar. There was enormous chaos. People ran past the cars. We could not proceed any further. We actually assumed that there had been a major fight, because that is what it seemed like in that moment.”
It was only the morning after that they realised what had actually happened.
