Sparklers held under a foam-clad ceiling likely ignited a deadly blaze that killed 40 New Year's revellers in a Swiss ski bar, according to authorities.
Investigators working to find the cause of the tragedy, which happened in the early hours of Thursday (local time) in the luxury resort town of Crans-Montana, have homed in on the sparklers after viewing mobile phone footage and speaking to survivors.
The images, some posted online, were recorded by partygoers in Le Constellation bar and show sparklers stuck in the top of champagne bottles held close to the basement bar's low ceiling, which was covered with soundproofing foam material.
Videos showed the material catching fire but the patrons — many of them in their late teens and 20s — kept dancing, unaware of the danger.
Chief prosecutor of the Valais region, Beatrice Pilloud said "everything suggests that the fire started from sparklers or Bengal candles" waved high near the ceiling.
However, the bar owner has insisted that all safety standards were followed.
When the party-goers realised the danger they were in, chaos broke out, with videos showing them scrambling and screaming.
Witnesses described a scene of terror, as people tried to break windows to escape while others, badly burned, poured into the street.
Alexis Laguerre, an 18-year-old, had been walking with a group of friends past the Le Constellation bar, a popular spot with young people and tourists, when they noticed smoke and flames emerging from the venue and called the police. "I am in shock," Laguerre told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
"People were running through the flames. People were using chairs to try to break the windows."
Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Valais canton in south-western Switzerland, told reporters authorities had counted "around 40 people who have died and around 115 injured, most of them seriously".
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) told SBS News the department was providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who was injured and receiving medical care following the fire.
"DFAT is making urgent enquiries with local authorities to determine whether any other Australians were impacted. We stand ready to provide consular assistance," the spokesperson said.
Hundreds mourn in Crans-Montana
On Thursday evening (local time), hundreds gathered for a memorial in Crans-Montana to remember those killed in the blaze.
One mourner, Mathys, who lives in the neighbouring village of Chermignon-d'en-Bas told Agence France-Presse the bar was popular and he met there with friends "almost every weekend".
"We thought it was just a small fire, but when we got there, it was war. That's the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse. It was terrible."
Guy Parmelin, who took over the Swiss presidency on Thursday, told reporters the fire was "one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced".
Local hospital full
The emergency unit at the main hospital in the Valais was full, with the injured being transported to various hospitals across Switzerland.
More than a dozen victims had been transported to the Zurich University Hospital in northern Switzerland, while at least 22 people suffering from serious burns had been taken to the main hospital in Lausanne, and six had been taken to Geneva, Switzerland's Keystone-ATS news agency reported.
The European Union said it has been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance.
Victims come from several countries
Swiss authorities said investigations were underway to identify the victims, but acknowledged that given Crans-Montana's popularity with tourists around the world, they expected a number of foreign nationals to be among the dead.
Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani told Italian broadcaster Rete4 around 15 Italians had been injured in the fire, and a similar number remained missing.
At least two French citizens were among the injured, according to initial reports from the French foreign ministry.
Le Constellation has a capacity of 300 people, plus an additional 40 on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
The bar is owned by a French couple, according to a local business registry and friends of the owners.
Ambulances were still parked outside the bar hours later, and broken windows could be seen.
Pilloud said significant resources were being mobilised "to identify the victims and return their bodies as quickly as possible to the families".
Authorities face arduous task of identifying victims
Investigators on Friday set about the painful task of identifying the burned bodies of the blaze.
So severe were the burns suffered by the mostly young crowd of revellers in the Le Constellation bar that Swiss officials said it could take days before they name all the victims of the fire that also injured 115, many of them seriously.
Parents of missing youths anxiously issued pleas for news of their loved ones as foreign embassies scrambled to work out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to befall modern Switzerland.
"The first objective is to assign names to all the bodies," Crans-Montana's mayor, Nicolas Feraud, told a press conference. This, he said, could take days.
Mathias Reynard, head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental and DNA samples to carry out the task.
"All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100 per cent sure."
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