About 40 people dead and 115 injured in fire at Swiss Alpine bar during New Year's celebration

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — About 40 people were killed and another 115 injured, most of them seriously, after a fire ripped through a bar’s New Year celebration in a Swiss Alpine resort less than two hours after midnight Thursday, police said.

Authorities did not immediately have an exact count of the deceased.

The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue, and overnight, its crowded Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies. The country will hold five days of mourning.

Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference that work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families, adding that the community is “devastated.”

Thirteen of the wounded were Italian citizens, and another six Italians are unaccounted for, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told state-run RAI television.

Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.

“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.

She later said the number of people who were in the bar is “currently totally unknown,” adding that its maximum capacity will be part of the investigation.

“For the time being, we don’t have any suspect,” she added, when asked if anyone had been arrested over the fire. “An investigation has been opened, not against anyone, but to illuminate the circumstances of this dramatic fire.”

Gisler said the priority until further notice would be identifying the victims, and added that “this work will have to take several days.”

Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris who survived the blaze, described “total chaos” inside the bar. One of his friends died and “two or three" were missing, he told The Associated Press.

He said he hadn’t seen the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles with sparklers, he said.

Clavier said he felt like he was suffocating and initially hid behind a table, then ran upstairs and tried to use a table to break a Plexiglas window. It fell out of its casing, allowing him to escape.

He lost his jacket, shoes, phone and bank card while fleeing, but “I am still alive and it’s just stuff.”

“I’m still in shock,” he added.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.

Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.

One of the people unaccounted for was an Italian, Giovanni Tamburi, whose mother Carla Masielli issued an appeal for any news about her son and asked the media to show his photo in hopes of identifying him, according to RAI.

“We have called all the hospitals but they don’t give me any news. We don’t know if he’s among the dead. We don’t know if he’s among the missing,” she wailed. “They don’t tell us anything!”

The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, said Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government of the Valais Canton.

“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Reynard.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was planning to go to the site on Friday given the significant number of Italians involved.

Three of the wounded were being transported from the Sion hospital in Switzerland to Milan’s Niguarda, the Italian civil protection agency said.

In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region's snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit. The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February. The town's Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.

The Swiss blaze on Thursday came 25 years after an inferno in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam on New Year’s Eve, which killed 14 people and injured more than 200 as they celebrated in a cafe.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in office, said many emergency staff had been “confronted by scenes of indescribable violence and distress.”

“This Thursday must be the time of prayer, unity and dignity,” he said. “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help.”

Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Paris. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

__

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the name of Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government of the Valais Canton.

A floral tribute left near the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge during New Year's celebration, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

A hearse car drives as police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge during New Year's celebration, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

From left, Mathias Reynard, State Councillor and president of the Council of State of the Canton of Valais, Stephane Ganzer, State Councillor and head of the Department of Security, Institutions and Sport of the Canton of Valais, Frederic Gisler, Commander of the Valais Cantonal Police and Beatrice Pilloud, Attorney General of the Canton of Valais during a press conference in Lens, following a fire that broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

From left, Mathias Reynard, State Councillor and president of the Council of State of the Canton of Valais, Stephane Ganzer, State Councillor and head of the Department of Security, Institutions and Sport of the Canton of Valais, Frederic Gisler, Commander of the Valais Cantonal Police, Beatrice Pilloud, Attorney General of the Canton of Valais and Nicole Bonvin-Clivaz, Vice-President of the Municipal Council of Crans-Montana during a press conference in Lens, following a fire that broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

A skier walks in the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

A banner stating that fireworks are prohibited due to the risk of fire is pictured near the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security will likely stretch into next week as the House contemplates passing a Senate plan it had previously rejected to fund the bulk of the agency, but not its immigration enforcement operations.

There was no resolution Thursday to the standoff, now in its 48th day, after both chambers met for just a few minutes in pro forma sessions. Nonetheless, the Republican leadership and President Donald Trump have coalesced around a plan to fully fund DHS as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the congressional leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they had pursued separate paths that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week for its spring recess without a fix.

During the brief sessions, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put aside the House plan to fund the entire department for 60 days. Then the House met briefly without taking up the bipartisan Senate plan that had been worked out with Democrats, though Thune is looking toward eventual passage.

“I don’t know the particulars around what the House will do with it,” Thune told reporters. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully, they’ll move it.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Thune, announced Wednesday that they would return to the Senate measure, which funds most of DHS with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans will try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.

Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though Trump has given his support.

Johnson’s embrace of the two-track plan marks a sharp reversal from less than a week ago, when he derided it as a “joke” and said he was “quite convinced that it can’t be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill.”

He now appears to be on board. But securing support from his own conference could prove more difficult after a sizable group of House Republicans blasted the Senate-passed bill last week.

House Republicans were expected to hold a conference call later Thursday to discuss the next steps.

Thune pointed to a “number of conversations” when he was asked how the Republican leadership and Trump aligned to move ahead after their apparent divisions a week earlier.

“The thing that some people want to do, we can’t do,” said Thune. “And so you have to figure out what’s in the realm of the possible. And you have to just continue to define reality for people.”

Democrats in both chambers were aligned last week with the Senate funding plan passed with bipartisan support. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Wednesday blamed Republicans for not acting more quickly.

“Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction,” Schumer said.

Even with the progress, the most conservative lawmakers are likely to seek full funding for all of Trump’s immigration and deportation operations.

“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”

Meanwhile, the budget package that Trump wants prepared for later this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a way to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to his immigration enforcement agenda. Trump said he wants that legislation on his desk by June 1.

Thune acknowledged the potential hurdles to that route, such as efforts to expand the scope of the bill. He said the goal is to keep it “as narrow and focused as possible” to speed passage.

“We need to kind of move with haste,” he said. “It’s probably not a likely magnet for all these other issues.”

The vast majority of DHS employees have reported to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have gone without pay. As more Transportation Security Administration agents called out from work, there was increasing frustration for air travelers confronted by long waits at some airport security lines. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay after Trump signed an executive order.

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., gestures as he speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill,Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)