CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Celebrating the new year with a night of drinking and dancing in the Swiss Alps, 17-year-old Ebenezer Mehari decided to take a break in front of the crowded Constellation Bar.
As he turned to go back inside, he told NBC News at the scene Friday, “all hell” broke out as a deadly fire broke out. “I heard a big boom and everyone was screaming,” he said.
Mehari said thick smoke enveloped the venue and the crowd, blinding them. He fell to the ground as people rushed to escape the bar, he said, but a man pulled him away to safety.
His friends weren’t so lucky, he said. “I have four friends who died,” he said, still struggling to come to terms with the loss. “To me, it’s not real.”
Mehari, who has lived in the area for 15 years, said he saw someone he knew from school disfigured and burned, as well as others whose hair and clothes were burned.
“Someone was dying in front of me and there was nothing I could do,” he said. “His face was so burned it was red.”
The bar was popular with local teenagers, he said. The legal drinking age is 16 in Switzerland.
Mehari was among the survivors taken to a hospital ward in Sion, where he was offered mental health assistance. “I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t,” he said.
Mehari’s was among the harrowing testimonies that emerged Friday as investigators searched for answers. At least 40 people are dead and 119 injured, officials said, many suffering severe burns that an experienced doctor treating them said will require “months of rehabilitation” and even have “lifelong consequences.”
Axel Clavier, 16, of Paris, told The Associated Press that he lost his jacket, shoes and phone while fleeing, although he was grateful to have escaped. “I’m still alive and it’s just stuff,” he said. “I’m still in shock.”
Samuel Rapp said he was at a nearby restaurant when the fire broke out.
“A lot of people were screaming and it was horrible,” Rapp told Sky News, NBC News’ British broadcast partner. “People were stepping on everyone,” he said, adding that he “saw a lot of people on the ground, and I think those people were dead because someone had put jackets over their faces.”
Laetitia Place, 17, says she is caught in the chaos.
“There is the little door where everyone was pushing, and so we all fell, we were piled on top of each other, some people were burning and others were dead next to us,” she told Reuters. “I was so scared – scared for myself, scared for my friends, scared for everyone inside.”
She added: “We have all seen some truly horrible things that no one should ever have to see. »
Eric Bonvin, general director of the Sion regional hospital which received several dozen injured people, said those seriously burned had to undergo months of treatment.
The injured were teenagers and young adults, averaging about 20 years old, he told The Associated Press inside the hospital.
The injured survivors suffered burns of varying degrees, not only to the skin but also to the respiratory tract.
“There was some inhalation of both smoke and also heat which probably resulted in some internal burns. It’s a truly catastrophic situation, as you can imagine,” Bonvin said.
“It was hard for everyone to live with. Probably also because everyone was wondering: ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’ This place was very famous for celebrating the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive is always traumatic.”
The road to recovery for those seriously injured is likely to be long and arduous, he warned.
“For people with severe burns, treatment in intensive care lasts several months,” he says.
“But it’s not without hope,” he added. “They are young, which means they still have a lot of vitality.”
Daniele Hamamdjian reported from Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Elmira Aliieva and Alexander Smith reported from London.
