Major update as first four victims of Swiss ski resort fire identified | World | News

The first four victims of the Swiss resort fire have been identified. Authorities confirmed two Swiss women aged 21 and 16, and two Swiss men aged 18 and 16 had died. Their bodies have been returned to their families, police said. The most recent figures suggest 47 people died and over 115 were injured after the fire at Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana during its New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Investigators are continuing to search for victims, with family and friends unable to locate their loved ones after the blaze. The Institute of Forensic Medicine is conducting an “extensive” investigation that has allowed the bodies to be identified and have now been returned to the families.

Their names have not yet been released, with Swiss policing adding that no further details will be released out of respect to the families.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated but officials and eyewitnesses have suggested that the flames spread as sparklers in champagne bottles came into contact with the ceiling.

Several patients remain in hospital in Switzerland, some as young as 15, according to a doctor at Geneva University Hospital, being treated for third-degree burns.

Emanuele Galeppini, a 17-year-old from Italy, has been named locally as one of the victims who died in the tragic fire.

Galeppini, from Genoa, was the first victim to be identified when the Italian Golf Federation paid tribute to the promising youth golfer.

They describe him as “a young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values,” adding: “In this time of great sorrow, our thoughts go out to his family and all those who loved him.”

In a statement after the fire, Switzerland’s President Guy Parmelin called it “one of the worst tragedies” experienced by the country.