The first victim of the Swiss ski resort fire that ripped through a busy bar during New Year’s celebrations has been named as 17-year-old golf player Emanuele Galeppini.
On Friday, the Italian Golf Federation confirmed Galeppini had died in the fire and described him as a “young athlete who carried with him passion and authentic values”.
They added: “In this moment of great sorrow, our thoughts go to his family and to all those who loved him.”
Galeppini was based in Dubai and was regarded as a promising talent.
Around 40 people were killed in the fire, which broke out at around 1:30am at Le Constellation lounge bar in Crans-Montana, southwestern Switzerland.
More than 115 people were injured, with a “significant number of them” classified as “critical”, Mathias Reynard, the president of the State Council of the Valais canton, said.
Many of the victims are believed to be teens and people in their early 20s.
The resort is popular with tourists, and the bar was full of people from different countries when the fire started, with the French and Italian foreign ministries confirming their citizens were among the victims.
Valais Cantonal Police, Frédéric Gisler, said authorities were working hard to identify the deceased victims, but added that it could “take several days”.
While the investigation is in its early stages, police have ruled out a terror attack, saying the tragedy is being treated as a fire.
Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the bar when the fire started, but Attorney General of the Valais Canton, Beatrice Pilloud, said that questions around the capacity of the venue will be part of the investigation.
During a press conference on Thursday evening, officials were asked about an allegation that the deadly fire was caused by champagne bottles with sparklers on them.
Pilloud said no arrests have been made in connection with the blaze, and it was too early to determine the fire’s cause.
“For the time being, we don’t have any suspects,” she added, when asked if anyone had been arrested over the fire. “An investigation has been opened, not against anyone, but to better understand the circumstances of this dramatic fire.”
It comes after witnesses told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside when they saw a barman carrying a barmaid on his shoulders. They said the barmaid was holding a lit candle in a bottle that set fire to the wooden ceiling.
Another witness who spoke 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 witness said they 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.
Axel Clavier, 16, told the Associated Press he managed to escape the fire by forcing open a window, but he said two or three” of his friends remained missing.
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