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Those who escaped of the devastating bar fire in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are being cared for in special burns units across Europe, while investigators say many of the dead were so badly burned that naming the victims could take days or weeks.

A Calamity of Unprecedented Proportions

About 40 people were killed and 115 hurt when the blaze engulfed a New Year’s Eve celebration in the crowded Constellation bar and underground club.

“The first objective is to put names to all the victims,” stated Crans-Montana’s mayor Nicolas Féraud.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, described the fire “a calamity of unparalleled, horrifying proportions” as he outlined the heavy human cost. “Beyond these numbers are faces, names, families, lives brutally cut short, forever altered or for ever changed,” Parmelin remarked at a press briefing.

Gruelling Identification Process

Such was the severity were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said the process of identification was particularly gruelling. Families of missing youths issued pleas for news of their loved ones and foreign embassies worked urgently to determine if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to strike the country in recent memory.

Mathias Reynard, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said forensic specialists were using dental records and DNA samples for the task. “All this work needs to be done because the information is so distressing and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100% sure,” he explained.

Overwhelmed Medical Systems

Despite having one of the world’s most advanced medical systems, Switzerland’s regional clinics quickly became overwhelmed in the hours after the fire. Over 30 people were taken to hospitals with specialised burns units in Zurich and Lausanne and six were flown to Geneva, as reported by news agencies.

Many more of the injured were transported to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU said it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about offering support.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he had offered his country’s assistance as clinics in Paris and Lyon took in patients, while Sweden and North Macedonia also said they had hospital beds available.

A Multinational Tragedy

Italy and France are among the countries that have said a number of their citizens are missing and Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland said the Italian foreign minister would travel to Crans-Montana.

Swiss officials have said approximately 40 people were killed but another nation has put the fatality count at 47, based on preliminary information.

A regional health and safety official expressed surprise on Friday he was “surprised” by the higher number. “This is not the same number that we have,” he told a radio station.

The Italian ambassador said the majority of the injured had now been named. Several Italians are still missing and more than a dozen receiving treatment. Three Italians were repatriated on Thursday with more to follow.

The French foreign ministry said several nationals were among the injured and eight others remained missing. Australia has said a citizen was injured.

Families in Anguish

Loved ones have been working desperately to find their missing family members, using social media to circulate photos of those unaccounted for.

Paulo Martins, a French citizen living in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend just avoided being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was deeply traumatized,” Martins said.

A friend of his 17-year-old son had been evacuated for treatment in Germany with severe burns covering a third of his body, Martins added.

Eleonore, 17, started the year with a desperate hunt for friends who have been unheard from since the fire. Outside the bar, now covered by white tarpaulins and a barrier of temporary barriers, she said she had not heard from them since New Year’s Eve.

“We took many pictures [and] we put them on Instagram, Facebook, every social network possible to try to find them,” she said. “But there’s nothing. No response. We called the parents. Nothing. Even the parents don’t know.”

She and a friend managed to get news that one friend was in a coma in a hospital in Lausanne.

Long Road to Recovery

The director of the city’s teaching hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 severely injured patients, most between 16 to 26.

“Patients are being stabilised and moved to the operating theatre or to intensive care units,” she informed a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the medical care will be long and intense, lasting several weeks or even many months.”