Switzerland fire latest: Bar managers under criminal investigation as police provide first details on victims

The severity of the burns made it difficult to identify bodies, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples.

In some cases, wallets and any identification documents inside turned to ash in the flames.

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising teenage Italian golfer who competed internationally, was officially listed as missing.

His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the results of DNA tests, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.

Two managers of the Swiss bar where a a fire at a New Year's party left 40 people dead are under investigation, police have said.

Authorities confirmed they have opened the investigation on Saturday, days after the deadly blaze at Le Constellation in the popular ski resort of Crans-Montana.

The two are suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and causing fire by negligence, police said in a statement.

A man in Switzerland saved at least 10 people at the Swiss ski resort after receiving a frantic call from his daughter.

Paolo Campolo, 55, told Il Messaggero that his daughter Paolina was late for the New Year’s Eve countdown at the Le Constellation bar as she had dropped by his father’s place “to say hello”. The delay ultimately saved her life and that of her boyfriend.

Speaking from his bed at a hospital in Sion, he said that his daughter was supposed to meet her boyfriend, who was waiting for her outside the upscale venue when the fire brokeout.

At around 1.20am, Paolina called her father on seeing the flames.

“[Her boyfriend] was behind the door. He managed to get out right in front of her eyes. He saved himself by a matter of seconds, but now he is hospitalised in very serious condition in Basel with severe burns,” Paolo said.

“It was our fault she was late: She should have been at that club already at midnight. Today I can say it without exaggeration, that delay saved her life,” he said.

Paolo, having reached the spot with a fire extinguisher, found an exit to help those trapped inside.

“I forced my way in, and that's how I managed to save ten young people. There were many Italians there ... Through the glass, I could see feet and hands. Bodies on the ground,” he said.

The owner of Le Constellation bar told Swiss and Italian media on Friday that all renovations to the establishment had been carried out “in accordance with regulations”.

Jacques Moretti said the establishment had been inspected three times over the past 10 years, in an interview with Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve.

Authorities interviewed the French couple who bought the bar at the Crans-Montana resort in 2015, according to the Valais company registry.

Attorney general Beatrice Pilloud said they had not been interviewed under caution, but added: “If there is a flight risk, it is possible for us to take the measures needed.”

A teenager who was a former pupil at a British school is among those missing.

Charlotte Niddam, believed to be 15, previously attended Immanuel College in Hertfordshire, according to multiple reports.

In a statement published by several newspapers, the private Jewish school confirmed she was missing.

The school urged the community to come together and said it was “praying for a miracle”.

According to the Crans-Montana resort website, she had been working as a babysitter in the area.

Around 40 people - many of them young - have been killed after a fire ripped through a busy bar in a popular Swiss ski resort during New Year’s Eve celebrations, in what has been described as one of the country’s “worst tragedies”.

At least 119 others have been injured with the vast majority in a “serious” or “critical” condition as authorities said local hospitals have reached capacity in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana.

Swiss authorities believe fountain candles on champagne bottles are the “likely” cause of the incident but investigations remain ongoing.

Report:

The Swiss authorities have identified four victims as two Swiss women aged 21 and 16 and two Swiss men aged 18 and 16, reported Sky News.

The bodies of the victims have been handed over to their families, but their names have not yet been released.

At least 40 people were killed in the fire at a New Year's Eve party.

The severity of their burns has made it very difficult to identify bodies, bringing more agony for families who now must hand over DNA samples to authorities.

Of the 119 injured, 113 have been identified, officials said on Friday.

The injured include 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, Valais Canton police commander Fridïric Gisler said. The nationalities of 14 people remain unclear.

Pope Leo said in a telegram on Friday to the Bishop of Sion that he "wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims".

“He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies."