Politics
Swiss resort fire likely started by sparkler candles, shows initial findings
- Severe burns making identification of bodies challenging: officials.
- Say dozens transferred to specialist burn units across Europe.
- Many of those injured are fighting for their lives: Valais area chief.
Dozens of young partygoers hurt in a New Year’s Eve bar fire in Switzerland were transferred to specialist burn units across Europe with serious injuries on Friday after being hit by the devastating blaze, which has killed at least 40.
Initial findings showed the fire that spread among the mostly young crowd of revellers in Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana was likely caused by sparkler candles being carried too close to the ceiling, the local prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, investigators focused on the painful task of identifying the burned bodies, warning that this process was very sensitive and would take time.
So severe were the burns that Swiss officials said it could take days before they name all those killed in the fire. The official toll is 40 dead, while 119 have been injured, many of them very seriously. Those numbers are not final, officials said.
“Many of those injured are still fighting for their lives today,” Valais area chief Mathias Reynard told a news conference.
Around 50 of the injured have been, or will be, transferred to burn units in hospitals elsewhere in Europe, he said. Germany and France are among the countries treating some of the injured.
Of the injured, 113 have been identified, 71 of whom are Swiss, 14 French, and 11 Italian, four Serbian, one Bosnian, one Belgian, one Polish, one Portuguese, and one Luxembourgish, police chief Frederic Gisler told the same news conference.
Fire likely caused by party candles
Initial investigations suggest that the fire, which tore through the Swiss ski resort bar, started when ‘fountain candles’ were carried aloft too close to the ceiling, local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said.
“Everything suggests that the fire started from the burning candles or ‘Bengal lights’ that had been attached to champagne bottles,” she told the news conference, adding that, while this hypothesis was likely, it was not yet confirmed.
“From there, a rapid, very rapid and widespread conflagration ensued.”
The investigation was also checking whether the ceiling’s insulation foam was to blame for the rapid spread of the fire, Pilloud said.
Further investigations will show if anyone needs to be held criminally liable for negligence, she added.
Axel, who was in the basement where the fire started, told reporters he did not know how he “miraculously” made it out.
He turned over a table and hid behind it to protect himself from the fire, before making his way upstairs. “We couldn’t see anything, I was half choking,” he said.
He used a table, and then his feet, to break a window to get out, avoiding what he said was a single door that was too narrow for the many people trying to escape.
Desperate search
A 16-year-old Italian international golfer who lived in Dubai was the first victim to be identified publicly.
The Italian Golf Federation said it “mourns the passing of Emanuele Galeppini, a young athlete who carried with him passion and genuine values.”
Parents and friends of missing youths issued pleas for news of their loved ones as foreign embassies scrambled to work out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to befall modern Switzerland.
Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, the mother of 16-year-old Arthur, was looking for information near the site of the blaze.
“We are together, we are in shock, we take each other in our arms, and we cry. We try to give each other hope,” she said of her relatives and others of those missing.
Marco, a 20-year-old from Milan, told Reuters outside the Constellation bar that 20 of his friends were missing.
“Some of them are injured, in bad condition. Some of them are completely safe. And some of our friends, we don’t have any news. They told us they never found them,” he said. “Nobody can help us find our friends.”
Italian, French among the missing
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who was in Switzerland, said that 13 Italians were in hospital and six were registered as missing.
France’s embassy to Switzerland said eight French citizens were unaccounted for, while another nine had been injured and were receiving care.
Visitors and residents of Crans-Montana, which is a popular draw not only for skiers but also golfers, were stunned by the inferno.
Dozens of people left flowers or lit candles on a makeshift altar at the top of the road leading to the bar, which police had cordoned off. Some cried, others quietly hugged one another.
“It could have been us,” Emma, an 18-year-old from Geneva, said outside the cordoned-off bar.
“There was an enormous queue, so we decided not to go in,” she said. “I see those missing, and it’s all people our age.”
Elisa Sousa, 17, said she was meant to be there but ended up spending the evening at a family gathering instead.
“And honestly, I’ll need to thank my mother a hundred times for not letting me go,” she said at the vigil for the victims. “Because God knows where I’d be now.”
Politics
Super-rich pay up to $350,000 for private jet evacuations as Middle East conflict escalates
- Sharp rise in demand pushing private jet prices higher.
- Wealthy elites are fleeing to Saudi Arabia from Gulf countries.
- Riyadh eases visa rules amid ongoing Middle East crisis.
Private jet prices to evacuate Gulf countries are soaring after Middle East conflict escalates following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the joint strikes launched by the US and Israel.
The Middle East conflict expanded with no end in sight, with Israel attacking Iran and Tehran firing missiles and drones at the “US interests and bases” across the Gulf states.
Global airlines cancelled flights across the Middle East after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, driving private jet rental prices to record highs amid the travel chaos.
In view of the prevailing situation, wealthy elites are fleeing to Saudi Arabia to evacuate the Gulf, as Iranian missiles and drones rained over Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, and Bahrain —previously perceived to be safe countries.
Riyadh is becoming a key exit route for those looking for a safe route out of the Middle East, as the airport in the Saudi Arabia capital is one of few still operating.
Private security companies are reportedly booking fleets of SUVs to transport people on the 10-hour drive to Riyadh from Dubai and then are chartering private planes.
Among those being evacuated are senior executives at global finance firms and high-net-worth individuals who were holidaying in the region or were there on a business trip.
The sharp rise in demand for an emergency exit is pushing prices for SUVs and private jets up, as it has been reported that private jets from Riyadh to Europe now cost up to $350,000 (£260,000), The Daily Mail reported.
Saudi Arabia is seemingly the safest country to currently get out of the Middle East, after routes out of Oman were closed following Iran’s strike on the port and an oil tanker in the country on Sunday.
Riyadh hosts one major international airport – the King Khalid International Airport, about 35km from the city centre. The airport has five passenger terminals and usually flies to Europe, America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Visa rules have also loosened in Saudi Arabia, meaning many nationalities can get a visa upon arrival rather than in advance, making it appealing as an emergency exit route for many.
Saudi’s defence ministry confirmed two drones were intercepted and destroyed earlier today.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman says confronting US-Israeli threats leaves the country no option but military retaliation, while stressing it has no issue with the American people.
In an interview with the US public radio (NPR) published on Sunday, Esmaeil Baghaei discussed the country’s positions on the current developments following the recent US-Israeli aggression.
“This is an unjust war imposed on our nation, and we have no other choice other than fighting against this injustice,” he said.
He emphasized that these military actions are unwarranted and unprovoked, and pointed out they arrived while the US and Iran were making progress in diplomatic negotiations over nuclear issues.
Baghaei stated that the conflict is the United States administration’s preferred war.
He noted that according to the Omani mediator’s remarks on Friday, a deal was close, and Iran was slated to meet the American delegation in Vienna the previous day to discuss technical details—emphasizing that Iran did not initiate the war.
He referred to the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, saying, “he was not only a political leader. He was also a high-ranking religious jurist with tens of millions of followers, even outside Iran, across the region.”
In response to a question on who is leading the country now, the Iranian diplomat explained that an interim council now governs Iran, composed of the head of the judiciary, the president, and a member of the council of experts, which will be responsible for electing a new leader.
Responding to a question about whether Iran’s leadership can withstand aggressive US sanctions, President Trump’s calls for regime change, Israeli pressure and domestic opposition, Baghaei said a foreign power cannot dictate changes to a nation’s system of governance.
He added that Iranians have historically united against foreign aggression and domination, fighting to protect their freedom, independence, dignity and sovereignty.
Reacting to the death of at least three Americans, Baghaei said “I have said many times that we have no problem with the American people. And we believe that this is not their war.”
Iranian Armed Forces have shot down an advanced US F-15 fighter jet near the border with Kuwait – the first downing of an American fighter jet in the past 27 years.
“An F-15 fighter jet [belonging] to the intruding US army which intended to attack the country has been targeted by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Air Defense and brought down,” Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Air Defense Base said in a statement on Monday.
It added that the jet’s debris has been crashed in Kuwaiti soil.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry on Monday confirmed the jet’s crash with its video footage widely being circulated in global media.
An American F-117 fighter jet was downed by former Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war some 27 years ago.
No American fighter jet has been officially destroyed since then despite significant progress made in airplane technology.
Iranian retaliatory attacks comes amid three days of aggression against the country, which has killed at least 555 people, including more than 145 children in a strike on an elementary school in Hormozgan Province in addition to Iranian officials, according to the Red Crescent Society.
The IRGC and the Army have targeted strategic sites in the Israeli-occupied territories as well as US-operated bases across West Asia, including the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, along with key installations in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their role in supporting aggression against Iran.
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Super-rich pay up to $350,000 for private jet evacuations as Middle East conflict escalates
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