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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 specialized trauma centers across Europe, while investigators say many of the deceased were so badly burned that identification could take days or weeks.

A Tragedy of Terrifying Scale

About 40 people were lost their lives and 115 hurt when the blaze ripped through a New Year’s Eve celebration in the packed Constellation bar and basement nightclub.

“Our primary goal is to assign names to all the bodies,” said local official Nicolas Féraud.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, described the fire “a calamity of unparalleled, terrifying proportions” as he described the heavy human cost. “Beyond these numbers are faces, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or irrevocably damaged,” Parmelin said at a press briefing.

Gruelling Identification Process

So severe were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said the process of identification was exceptionally difficult. Families of unaccounted-for young people issued pleas for news of their family members and diplomatic missions scrambled to find out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst disasters to strike the country in recent memory.

A regional leader, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental records and DNA samples for the solemn duty. “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 sophisticated healthcare networks, Switzerland’s local hospitals quickly reached capacity in the hours after the blaze. Over 30 people were taken to hospitals with specialised burns units in Zurich and Lausanne and six were transferred to Geneva, according to news agencies.

A significant number of the injured were flown to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU confirmed it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about offering support.

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

International Victims

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

Swiss officials have said approximately 40 people were killed but a foreign government has put the fatality count at 47, based on early data.

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

The Italian ambassador said the majority of the injured had now been named. Several Italians are still missing and more than a dozen hospitalised. Some victims were returned home on Thursday with more to follow.

The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens were among the injured and additional individuals remained missing. Australia has said a citizen was injured.

Desperate Search for Loved Ones

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

Paulo Martins, a French citizen resident in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend narrowly missed being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was really in shock,” Martins told reporters.

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 frantic search for friends who have been unheard from since the fire. Standing outside the bar, now shielded by white tarpaulins and a wall of temporary barriers, she said she had not had contact with 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 explained. “But there’s no news. No response. We called the parents. No information. Even the parents don’t know.”

She and a friend managed to get news that one friend was in a medically induced unconsciousness in a hospital in Lausanne.

Long Road to Recovery

The director of the city’s teaching hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 badly burned patients, most ranging in age from 16 to 26.

“Patients are being medically stabilized and moved to the surgery or to intensive care units,” she told a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the treatment will be protracted and demanding, lasting many weeks or even months.”