Swiss local authorities admit inspections failure at burnt-out bar

Published January 6, 2026 5:34pm

Rescuers are seen at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans Montana on January 1, 2026. Several people were killed and others injured, Swiss police said. Maxime Schmid/ AFP/File photo

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland - Swiss local authorities admitted Tuesday they failed to conduct periodic fire and safety inspections over the past five years at a bar where an inferno killed 40 people and injured 116 others.

"Periodic inspections were not conducted between 2020 and 2025. We bitterly regret this," Crans-Montana mayor Nicolas Feraud told a press conference in the Alpine ski resort, five days after the disaster at Le Constellation bar. — Agence France Presse

Swiss local authorities admit inspections failure at burnt-out bar

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