TL:DR – Swiss Bar Fire Tragedy: Death Toll Hits 41 as 18-Year-Old Passes Away
An 18-year-old Swiss national who was injured in the New Year Swiss bar fire has died almost a month after the incident. The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation, one of the worst disasters in Switzerland’s modern history, is now at 41.
Tragic Update on Swiss Bar Fire
Details Surrounding the Incident
Two sources told news agency Reuters the latest victim was a man who was living near Lausanne in the west of the country. Most of the people killed in the blaze were teenagers, with several of the 115 who were injured still being treated in hospital for severe burns.
The Wallis canton’s public prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement: “An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31. The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1, 2026, has now risen to 41.” No further information has been released so far.
Photographs of the night show the initial moments of the blaze, as sparklers appeared to set the ceiling alight.
Legal Actions and Accusations
The bar’s co-owners Jessica and Jacques Moretti have been accused of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and arson by negligence. A former fire safety officer for Crans-Montana and the Swiss municipality’s head of public safety are also under criminal investigation over the fire.
Victims of the Swiss Tragedy
Among the dead were 23 Swiss nationals, eight French nationals, six Italians, one Belgian, one Portuguese, one Romanian, and one Turkish national. Remarkably, only four of those who died were aged over 24, with the oldest being 39 and the youngest a 14-year-old from France.
It is believed that the fire was ignited by sparklers attached to champagne bottles, which lit flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling. Anger continues to grow across the country, with a demonstration in the lakeside town of Lutry near Lausanne drawing hundreds of people.
Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, the mother of 17-year-old victim Arthur, addressed the crowd: “Today, we are just asking for justice and truth and afterwards we will mourn.”