Australian Teen Narrowly Escapes Swiss Bar Fire; Shares Harrowing Account

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Sixteen-year-old Arthur Brodard went to Le Constellation bar with friends to celebrate the new year. Nearly 48 hours after a devastating fire, his mother still holds out hope he might be one of the six injured people who remained unidentified after one of Switzerlandâs worst tragedies.

Those half-dozen people gave a glimmer of hope for families whose loved ones were missing in the aftermath of the fire at the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana that killed 40 people and injured 119 others, 113 of whom have been formally identified.

âIâm looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,â Laetitia Brodard, from Lausanne, Switzerland, told reporters.

Arthur Brodard’s mother still holds out hope her son is one of the unidentified injured. (Facebook)

Investigators said on Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling. (AP)

“I need to find my child and be there, no matter if it’s in an intensive care unit or the morgue,” a grieving parent implored. The devastating burns have complicated the process of identifying both the injured and the deceased. Families have been asked to provide DNA samples to help with identification, as wallets and ID cards were reduced to ashes in the flames. Meanwhile, an Instagram account has become a hub for photos of missing individuals, with family and friends desperately seeking information about their loved ones.

The Valais regional government officials have acknowledged the extended period of agony faced by families. “Our top priority now is identification, to help families begin their mourning process,” stated Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region’s attorney general, during a press briefing on Friday.

Mathias Reynard, the head of the regional government, expressed understanding of their plight, saying, “We are fully aware of the excruciating hours and the unbearable wait for answers.”

Australian Yaron Lavy was en route to the Le Constellation bar but decided to take a detour to grab a drink of water.

Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government, added: âWe are aware of the particularly difficult hours, of the unbearable side of every minute that passes without answers.”

The severity of the burns has made it difficult to identify both the injured and deceased, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. (AP)

âYou canât imagine the pain I saw’

Australian Yaron Lavy was on his way to Le Constellation bar but made a detour to get a drink of water.

“It would have been me if I went a bit earlier,” Lavy told 9News.

“I would have been in the same state, it’s very shocking to learn that kids my age are in this state.”

The 17-year-old moved from Melbourne to Switzerland in 2019 and said he had multiple groups of friends inside.

Australian Yaron Lavy was on his way to Le Constellation bar but made a detour to get a drink of water. (David Crowe)

“Six of them are being accounted missing,” Lavy said.

“Then I’ve still got a few that are still like that are either in the hospital or presume dead. “

Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, recounted how he rushed to the bar to help the injured.

âWe were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could, we saw people screaming, running,â Chavanon told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday.

âThere was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You canât imagine the pain I saw.â

Many of the injured were in their teens to mid-20s, police said. Authorities planned to look into whether sound-dampening material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar.

Officials said they would also look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes. The region’s top prosecutor warned of possible prosecutions if any criminal liability is found.

Many of the injured were in their teens to mid-20s, police said. (AP)

Injured hailed from across Europe

The injured included 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, according to FrÃ©dÃ©ric Gisler, police commander of the Valais region. The nationalities of 14 people were still unclear.

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising teenage Italian golfer who competed internationally, was officially listed as one of Italyâs missing nationals. His uncle, Sebastiano Galeppini, told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.