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PinnedUpdated The authorities in Switzerland were working on Friday to identify bodies and pinpoint the cause of a fire that ripped through a popular bar during a New Year’s celebration in the Alps, killing around 40 people and injuring more than 100 others. The blaze broke out early Thursday at Le Constellation, a bar in Crans-Montana, a resort town frequented by international tourists. President Guy Parmelin of Switzerland said it was “one of the worst tragedies” in the country’s history, and officials said that the extent of the injuries was making it difficult to identify the victims.“Many are devastated by burns,” Gian Lorenzo Cornado, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, said in an interview with La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper. Swiss police have said it could take days or weeks to confirm the names of all the victims.The bar was a haven for people in their late teens and early 20s, and many of the fire victims were young. The hospital closest to the fire was initially overwhelmed by the crush of victims, and Switzerland’s burn units were immediately stretched to capacity, officials said. Some of the injured were flown 75 miles away across the mountains to Milan, which has one of Italy’s best centers for burn treatment, and others were being treated in France.Here’s what else to know:Explosion: Officials said that a fire at the bar was followed by an subsequent explosion, but they ruled out the possibility of an attack. They said that the explosion was likely caused by a flashover, a phenomenon in which a fire in an enclosed space spreads rapidly, causing nearly everything in the room to ignite almost simultaneously.Crans-Montana: The upmarket destination caters to a mostly wealthy clientele. The region offers views of the Matterhorn, a mountain considered Switzerland’s most famous landmark, and other peaks like Mont Blanc. The town is home to roughly 10,000 people and has around 2,800 hotel beds.Le Constellation: The bar where the fire took place was a well-loved, casual venue near a gondola that whisked skiers up a mountain. It was popular with a younger crowd and international visitors. Downstairs, the space was often turned into a dance floor with live DJs, and the bar regularly broadcast live sports.An international tragedy: Italy’s foreign ministry said that six Italians remained unaccounted for and 13 had been hospitalized. Among those killed was Emanuele Galeppini, a 17-year-old Italian golfer. At least nine French citizens were injured in the fire and at least eight are missing, France’s foreign ministry said.Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Rome. It’s likely that a flashover occurred during the fire. Here’s what that means.ImageThe authorities said that a flashover had likely happened at Le Constellation, the bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.Credit...Til Bürgy for The New York TimesThe cause of the fire that left dozens dead at a bar in Switzerland in the early hours of Thursday is still under investigation. But the Swiss authorities have said that it’s likely that the explosion reported from the site was caused by a flashover.A flashover is a common and deadly phenomenon in which a fire in an enclosed space rapidly spreads, causing nearly everything in the room to ignite almost simultaneously, according to fire experts.The authorities said this likely happened at Le Constellation, the bar in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, where flames ripped through the building, caused at least one explosion and killed about 40 people.When a flame in a room is not quickly put out, hot gases rise to the ceiling and spread heat throughout the space, fire experts say. Temperatures can rise quickly to as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, a point at which everything in the room can start burning at once, according to the National Fire Protection Association.“All the wood, all the seats, all of the decorations and everything else in the room would be heated to the ignition temperature,” said Steve Kerber, executive director of the Fire Safety Research Institute in Maryland. “If you have very combustible materials, like plastics, it happens very fast.”ImageThe interior of the building where the fire broke out in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.Credit...Police Cantonale Valaisanne/Police Cantonale Valaisanne, via Associated PressIn a flashover, a flame can spread from a candle to a sofa, then to the carpet and the rest of the room in three to five minutes, depending on the type of materials involved, Mr. Kerber said.It would burn the people inside too.Even a firefighter in full protective gear would be unlikely to survive a flashover, according to the National Fire Protection Association. “Those are temperatures well beyond what you could get away with breathing,” Mr. Kerber said.Flashovers occur frequently in fires. “There are flashovers that happen every single day all around the world,” Mr. Kerber said. “Every major fire has a room or multiple rooms that transition through flashover.”A flashover was involved in the 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island that killed 100 people, a disaster that Mr. Kerber said the blaze in Switzerland appeared to resemble. In that case, pyrotechnics ignited by a band playing at the club, the Station, set soundproofing foam lining the walls and ceiling ablaze.But flashovers are preventable. Sprinklers can stop fires from reaching that point, Mr. Kerber said, as can adherence to fire codes, including not having flammable material on ceilings in enclosed spaces. VideoTeen Recounts Escape from Deadly Swiss Fire1:16People gathered at memorials in the resort town of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, to grieve for the victims of a deadly New Year’s fire at a bar. A survivor described her harrowing escape.CreditCredit...Til Bürgy for The New York TimesGian Lorenzo Cornado, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, said in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper that the Swiss authorities had found 47 bodies from the blaze. (Swiss officials have said that around 40 people were killed.) He said it could take days to identify all the victims. “Many are devastated by burns, and unfortunately, in these conditions, it won’t be easy to identify them,” he was quoted as saying.Regulars at the bar say the victims probably struggled to escape its blazing lower floor because there was only one exit. “It’s in the basement, there’s no emergency exit, and the only way out is the stairs,” said Noa Bourdin, 18, who arrived on the scene roughly half an hour after the fire began.Emanuele Galeppini, a young Italian golfer, is among the first victims named.ImageFlowers near the bar Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Friday.Credit...Til Bürgy for The New York TimesEmanuele Galeppini, a young Italian golfer, was one of the first victims identified in the fire. On Thursday, the Italian Golf Federation confirmed in a statement that Mr. Galeppini had died, describing him as “a young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values.”“Emanuele, you will forever remain in our hearts,” the Federation added.Mr. Galeppini had been on the list of missing Italians, according to La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper. Mr. Galeppini, 17, was from Genoa and had moved to Dubai a few years ago, according to La Repubblica.The last time that his family spoke with him, according to Corriere della Sera, another Italian newspaper, was at midnight on New Year’s Day.As soon as news of the blaze broke, Edoardo Galeppini, his father, started trying to call his son, La Repubblica reported. He received no answer.The younger Mr. Galeppini’s parents spent Thursday traveling to hospitals around the region to try to find their son among the injured, La Repubblica reported.“We can’t get in touch with him — help us find him,” his father told Italian television, according to La Repubblica.Mr. Galeppini had attended the Swiss International School in Dubai and was set to graduate next year, according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking.But he had maintained strong ties to his family’s local club near Genoa, the Rapallo Golf and Tennis Club, according to La Repubblica, playing close to the Italian coast every summer.“He is a talented young man, an absolute example of excellent ethics and sportsmanship,” Fabrizio Pagliettini, the director of the Rapallo club, told La Repubblica, adding, “He is one of the best Italian players under 18.”An air of uncertainty hangs over the valleys around Crans-Montana today, with some residents still unsure if their friends were at the bar when it caught fire, or if they survived. The mood is “quiet, calm, cold,” said Eliott Tavernier, 24, who was a regular at Le Constellation. “Even for me, who didn’t have any close relatives among the victims, I still don’t know if I know some of them, because a lot of people still haven’t been identified.”Three people injured in the blaze were taken to France on Thursday as Switzerland’s neighbors stepped in to take in badly burned victims. On Friday morning, the French foreign ministry said eight other people would be treated at hospitals in France.On Friday morning, police tape and large white barriers cordoned off the area around Le Constellation, live video from the Reuters news agency showed. Temporary tents had been erected, shielding the scene from public view.VideoCreditCredit...ReutersA small Swiss village mourns those who died in a well-loved bar.ImageMourners gathered on Thursday evening near Le Constellation in the resort village of Crans-Montana, Switzerland.When Bruno Martins headed through the streets of his Swiss mountain village after midnight on New Year’s Day, he expected to meet old friends celebrating in one of their favorite haunts.Instead, Mr. Martins, 17, arrived at Le Constellation, a two-story bar popular with the village’s younger residents, to find it in flames, and surrounded by police officers. A scrum of people were trying to escape the blaze, he said. One of his friends was badly burned and sent to hospital. Others were missing, he said.“It was total panic, people were trampling each other,” Mr. Martins said in an interview. “It’s not real,” he recalled thinking. “It’s a bar we know so well.”The blaze, which Switzerland’s president called one of the worst disasters in Swiss history, tore through the bar, trapping many of its customers inside, killing around 40 people, and leaving the resort village of Crans-Montana in a state of shock.ImageMourners attending a vigil near the fire-ravaged bar.“When we look at the news, we tell ourselves it’s impossible that this could happen to us,” Mr. Martins said as he stood near the remains of the bar on Thursday evening. “It’s a small, tranquil village where everybody knows each other.”To the teenagers of the village, and those in their early 20s, the disaster felt particularly personal. Le Constellation was their bar, said Sofia Degraye, 22. It was the main place in town where younger residents could find affordable drinks. In quiet times, they would gather there to play billiards, or drink hot chocolate, she said. On busier nights, like New Year’s Eve, it was more like a nightclub. Unlike other bars in Crans-Montana, Le Constellation usually did not charge an entrance fee, so it attracted a particularly young crowd, Ms. Degraye said.“It just makes you think: It could have been me,” said Ms. Degraye, who was back in Crans-Montana for the holidays. “You have that guilt. Why did it happen on this night and not the nights that I was there?”ImageRescue workers at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana on Thursday.Several hundred mourners, many of them young people, gathered near the cordoned-off bar on Thursday evening. Some were seeking strength and solace in community, others were waiting for news of missing loved ones.Survivors often had scant information about the victims’ fates. Some of those who were in the bar were disfigured by the fire and hard to identify, and many were taken for treatment in hospitals in other parts of the country.Johnny Marcelli, 27, a waiter who had seen smoke billowing from the fire-ravaged bar, was hoping for news about a friend who worked there. He had not heard from her, or about her, since the fire.Lucas Batista, 20, a roofer from the village, had tears in his eyes as he hugged friends at the gathering. He had come to lay flowers for his friend, a 23-year-old barmaid at Le Constellation.Mr. Batista was at a party at another friend’s house when he heard about the fire, he said. In the morning, he learned that the barmaid had been taken to an intensive care unit. Later, another friend called and told him she had died. “I feel terrible,” Mr. Batista said.ImageA memorial gathering near Le Constellation on Thursday evening.Ms. Degraye said that she had been at the bar two nights earlier, and that one of her closest friends would have been there the night of the blaze, but for a last-minute change of heart.She was left wondering, she said, how a night that symbolizes a fresh start had devolved into something so tragic. “A celebration of love and light and a new year and new hope and new prospects,” Ms. Degraye said. “All the innocents there, they’re kids, they went to celebrate.”“All of it gone — and so fast,” she said.ImagePolice officers in Crans-Montana on Thursday.Switzerland’s burn centers are so overwhelmed that fire victims are being sent to other countries.ImageAn air ambulance leaving the main hospital in Sion, Switzerland, the closest to the deadly fire, on Thursday.Credit...Pierre Albouy/ReutersThe number of people who suffered severe burns in the bar fire in the Swiss resort town of Crans-Montana far exceeds the capacity of Switzerland’s burn units in Zurich and Lausanne and its national disaster center in the capital, an emergency care official in Geneva said on Thursday.About 50 people are believed to have been badly burned, according to Dr. Robert Larribau, the head of emergency care at Geneva’s University Hospital, who was briefed by the national authorities.Officials in the capital, Bern, were coordinating with the European Union to find hospitals in neighboring countries that are able to take some of the victims, Dr. Larribau said. Transfers of patients to hospitals in Germany, Italy and France began on Thursday, and France said on Friday that 11 injury victims would be hospitalized there.The hospital closest to the fire, in Sion, Switzerland, was initially overwhelmed by the rush of victims, Dr. Larribau said. It was reported to have taken in around 60 people.Twenty-two others were sent to Lausanne, more than double the capacity of its burn center, Dr. Larribau said. Another 16 patients were transferred to Zurich University Hospital, and eight were sent to hospital in Bern.Four people, between the ages of 15 and around 25, were taken to Geneva University Hospital. Two were in intensive care and required transfer as soon as possible for specialized treatment, Dr. Larribau said.Three people suffering fractures and other nonburn injuries from an explosion that occurred at the bar as the fire raged made their own way to another Geneva hospital, he said.