‘Our Arthur has gone’: Swiss fire victims identified, with youngest aged 14

16 hours ago 14

London: Hundreds of mourners gathered in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana on Sunday to remember the 40 people who perished when a fire swept through a bar where young revellers were celebrating the new year.

The mourners walked along the main street of the mountain village in a solemn procession that stopped outside the scene of the fire, where families and friends set up a temporary memorial covered in flowers, teddy bears and candles.

Mourners weep for the victims of the Crans-Montana fire at a memorial procession on Sunday.

The gathering came as Swiss authorities announced they had identified 24 of the 40 fatalities and that those who died included citizens of Switzerland, France, Italy, Romania and Turkey.

Among the dead were four Swiss teenage girls, one of them aged 14, and six Swiss men and teenagers, the youngest aged 16.

One of the parents who had been waiting for news about their children, Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, said she had been told her son, Arthur, 16, was among those killed in the blaze.

“Our Arthur has gone to party in paradise,” she wrote on Facebook late on Saturday night (midday on Sunday, AEST). “Now we can begin our mourning knowing that he is at peace in the light.”

The time required to identify the dead, forced by the severity of the burns, has compounded the grief for families since the fire tore through the bar about 1.30am on New Year’s Day.

Brodard-Sitre asked people to pray for the survivors and those injured.

“And pray that our children and the deceased may reach heaven or any other place of paradise according to their religion,” she added.

Many of the community members attended a church service where local bishop Jean-Marie Lovey relayed a message from Pope Leo XIV about his prayers for the young people who died, as well as for the injured and their families.

People gather to remember the fire victims in Crans-Montana on Sunday.

About 119 people were hurt in the fire and some suffered burns so severe that it has taken days to identify them.

The police chief in the Valais cantonment that includes the resort town, Frédéric Gisler, said on Saturday that the injured included 71 people from Switzerland, 14 from France and 11 from Italy.

The Australian government confirmed that one Australian was among those injured, but has not released any details of the individual’s medical condition or location.

Also among the injured are people from Serbia, Portugal, Poland, Luxembourg, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Belgium.

Firefighters attend the memorial on Sunday.

Those wounded in the fire were transferred to burns units in hospitals across Switzerland as well as in France, Germany and Italy. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said 17 patients had received care in France, out of 35 patients transferred outside Switzerland.

While authorities did not name the dead, details have begun to emerge of those killed.

The Jewish community in the Swiss city of Lausanne said on Sunday that Jewish sisters Alicia and Diana Gunst, aged 15 and 14, were killed in the fire.

The Italian Golf Federation named Emanuele Galeppini, 16, as one of those who died, describing him as an athlete who “embodied passion and authentic values”. He had been staying in the village with family.

Teenage Crans-Montana fire victim Emanuele Galeppini.

Another of those who died, Benjamin Johnson, 18, a young boxer, was hailed as a hero for saving a friend in his final moments.

“Reports indicate that he lost his life rushing to the aid of his girlfriend, thus saving her life,” Swiss Boxing president Amir Orfia said. “This final act of selflessness perfectly reflects his character: he was someone who always helped others.”

Promising boxer Benjamin Johnson, who was killed in the fire.

The family of Tristan Pidoux also announced he was among the casualties.

“We have just learned that our angel Tristan has left us,” they posted on Instagram. “We are in shock. Life is so unfair. May you rest in peace.”

Among those missing is Charlotte Niddam, 15, who lived in Britain and had recently studied at Immanuel college, a private Jewish secondary school in Hertfordshire.

The school said in a statement last Friday it was “praying for a miracle” for her. The BBC reported she had been working in the resort as a babysitter.

Messages have flooded an online condolence book set up by the Swiss government with an opening post by Swiss President Guy Parmelin.

“Many of the victims were young, full of plans, hopes, and dreams,” he wrote. “Their lives should not be defined by how they ended. They should be honoured for what they were: a promise, an energy, a part of our shared future.”

Swiss prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the owners of a bar that was destroyed in a blaze that killed 40 people, after photographs showed the way flames spread through soundproofing material attached to the ceiling.

Police said the French couple were suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and causing fire by negligence.

The fire is believed to have started about 1.30am on Thursday morning when bar staff carried bottles of champagne aloft in the crowd with small fireworks attached and setting off sparks.

Photographs taken at the time appear to show the fire catching alight on the insulation material, while one video showed some people attempting to douse flames that had spread to the ceiling.

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