Swiss bar fire death toll rises to 41 after 18-year-old dies in hospital
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.
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, and several of the 115 who were injured are still being treated in hospital with 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.
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.
Among the dead were 23 Swiss nationals, eight French nationals, six Italians, one Belgian, one Portuguese, one Romanian and one Turkish national.
Only four of those who died were aged over 24, with the oldest aged 39 and the youngest a French 14-year-old.
It is thought the fire resulted from sparklers attached to champagne bottles lighting flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling.
Anger continues to grow around 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, told the crowd: ‘Today, we are just asking for justice and truth and afterwards we will mourn.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.