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Survivors of the devastating bar fire in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are receiving treatment in special burns units across Europe, while authorities say many of the dead were so severely injured that identification could take days or weeks.

A Calamity of Unprecedented Proportions

About 40 people were lost their lives and 115 injured when the blaze ripped through a New Year’s Eve celebration in the packed Constellation bar and basement nightclub.

“Our primary goal is to put names to all the victims,” said Crans-Montana’s mayor Nicolas Féraud.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, called the fire “a disaster of unprecedented, horrifying proportions” as he outlined the heavy human cost. “Beyond these numbers are faces, names, families, lives brutally cut short, forever altered or for ever changed,” Parmelin remarked at a news conference.

Gruelling Identification Process

Such was the severity were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said identification work was particularly gruelling. Families of unaccounted-for young people issued urgent appeals for news of their loved ones and foreign embassies scrambled to find out if their citizens were among those caught up in one of the worst disasters to strike modern Switzerland.

A regional leader, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental records and DNA samples for the task. “All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and delicate that nothing can be told to the families unless we are completely certain,” he explained.

Hospitals Reach Capacity

Even with one of the world’s most advanced medical systems, Switzerland’s regional clinics quickly became overwhelmed in the hours after the blaze. Over 30 people were taken to hospitals with dedicated burn centers in Zurich and Lausanne and six were transferred to Geneva, according to news agencies.

Many more of the injured were flown to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU confirmed it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he had offered his country’s help as clinics in Paris and Lyon took in patients, while Sweden and North Macedonia also said they had hospital beds available.

International Victims

Italy and France are among the countries that have said a number of their citizens are unaccounted for and Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland said the Italian foreign minister would visit Crans-Montana.

Swiss officials have said approximately 40 people were killed but another nation has put the fatality count at 47, based on early data.

A regional health and safety official expressed surprise on Friday he was “surprised” by the higher number. “This is not the same number that we have,” he told a radio station.

The Italian ambassador said all but five of the injured had now been named. A number of Italians are still missing and more than a dozen hospitalised. Three Italians were returned home on Thursday with more to follow.

The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens were among the injured and eight others remained missing. Australia has said a citizen was hurt.

Families in Anguish

Relatives and friends have been scrambling to find their missing family members, using social media to share images of those still missing.

Paulo Martins, a French citizen living in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend just avoided being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was really in shock,” Martins said.

A friend of his 17-year-old son had been evacuated for treatment in Germany with severe burns covering a third of his body, Martins stated.

Eleonore, 17, started the year with a desperate hunt for friends who have been unheard from since the fire. Standing outside the bar, now covered by white tarpaulins and a barrier of temporary barriers, she said she had not had contact with them since New Year’s Eve.

“We took loads of photos [and] we put them on Instagram, Facebook, all possible platforms to try to find them,” she said. “But there’s nothing. No response. We called the parents. No information. Even the parents don’t know.”

She and a friend managed to get news that one friend was in a coma in a hospital in Lausanne.

Long Road to Recovery

The director of the city’s university hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 badly burned patients, most ranging in age from 16 to 26.

“Patients are being medically stabilized and transferred to the surgery or to intensive care units,” she informed a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the treatment will be protracted and demanding, lasting several weeks or even months.”