SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Dozens are dead, and more than 100 are injured after a deadly fire at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. Many of the dead are believed to be young men and women. They were celebrating the new year at a bar that caught fire. Switzerland's President Guy Parmelin has called the incident one of the worst tragedies in the country's history. NPR's Rome correspondent, Ruth Sherlock, is following the story for us and joins us now. Hi, Ruth.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: This is clearly just a grim story. Can you tell us more about what we know happened?
SHERLOCK: Well, this all happened in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana. It's famous for hosting - it's usually famous for hosting top winter sporting events and a place that celebrities often visit. And last night, there were New Year's Eve celebrations in full swing. But then at about 1:30 a.m., officials say smoke was seen billowing from a local bar called Le Constellation. And police say they arrived within minutes, but it was already too late. They found what the Swiss president has described as a, quote, "brutal loss of life." Dozens of people are dead, and many of the wounded are seriously hurt from the burns and the smoke in their lungs. Officials say the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital are full, and some of the injured have been taken to other Swiss cities. France and Italy are among the countries offering to treat those with severe burns.
DETROW: Footage shows just fierce flames pouring out of the bar. What are we hearing from people who were at the resort?
SHERLOCK: Well, Scott, there are just truly awful descriptions from witnesses who say they saw people escaping the bar with their clothes on fire, others trying to pull out bodies. One young man, a 19-year-old Nathan Huguenin, he told the Associated Press he still feels like he's in a nightmare he hopes to wake up from.
NATHAN HUGUENIN: (Speaking French).
SHERLOCK: He's saying, "I saw people being resuscitated. I saw people completely burned. I saw people dying." Le Constellation had a basement nightclub, and eyewitnesses inside described the panicked crowd trying to escape that basement as it filled with smoke and flames using what they said was a narrow staircase. Some people are said to have been trampled as they tried to get out. Many of those out last night were young people, many, many teenagers. A help line has now been set up, and there's a reception center in the resort for the families of the missing that are coming to the area. Residents and friends and families of those killed and injured are placing flowers at the scene.
DETROW: Any sense yet of what could have caused this?
SHERLOCK: Look, officials say they are opening an investigation, and they haven't yet identified the cause of the fire. They do say this was not a deliberate attack. Two eyewitnesses told French media that waitresses had put what they described as birthday candles in champagne bottles, and that had set the ceiling, which is made of wood, ablaze. And there's a video that shows on social media, and it shows flames appearing to spread across the bar.
There's also what seems to be a promotional video from last year for the bar, and that shows female staff wearing biker helmets striding through the place, carrying sparklers stuffed into alcohol bottles. People have also been asking whether last night the bar was overcrowded. So there's clearly lots of questions to be answered in this investigation. For now, officials are saying the priority is to identify the bodies of the victims, and they say that that could take quite some time.
DETROW: That's NPR's Rome correspondent, Ruth Sherlock. Thank you so much.
SHERLOCK: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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