ZURICH (AFP/Reuters) - Swiss police believe around 40 people died and 100 were injured in a fire during a New Year's Eve party in the resort town of Crans-Montana, the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
It added that the blaze was not thought to have been caused by arson. The victims could not be immediately identified because of the severity of their burns, the ministry added.
“There has been an explosion of unknown origin,” Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesman in Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland told AFP.
He said the explosion took place at around 1:30 am (local time) in a bar called Le Constellation, which is popular with tourists, as revellers rang in the new year.
Images published by Swiss media showed a building in flames, and emergency services nearby.
“The intervention is still ongoing,” he said.
The area has been completely closed off, and a no-fly zone has been imposed over Crans-Montana, police said, adding that the cause of the fire remained unclear.
More than 100 people were in the bar at the time of the explosion, Swiss media outlet Blick reported, citing police.