An Australian girl and her brother are desperately waiting to see whether or not their friends survived a deadly fire in a Swiss club on New Year’s Day.
Ariella Lavy, 15, and her brother Yaron, 17, are still trying to figure out if their friends survived the fire that claimed at least 40 lives and injured 119 others at the Le Constellation bar in southwestern Switzerland about 1.30am on January 1.
The siblings moved from Melbourne to Switzerland with their mother Dominique, 57, in 2020.
They all visited the vigil set up outside Le Constellation bar where Ariella put down a bouquet of flowers for her friend Alix Perroud, 16, who she knows died in the fire.
When the deadly blaze broke out it quickly swept through the downstairs area of the crowded bar and likely acted as a flashover, Swiss officials said.
This means that it triggered the release of combustible gases which can ignite violently.
In footage of the fire, dimpled foam acoustic insulation which covered the ceiling of the basement bar appeared to ignite from a sparkler held aloft on a Champagne bottle before spreading with terrifying ferocity.
Witnesses described the ensuing panic as revellers tried to escape from the nightclub area in the basement, up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door, causing a crowd surge.
Ariella Lavy, 15, and her brother Yaron, 17, are nervously waiting to discover if any of their friends died in a fire that broke out in a Swiss bar on New Year’s Day
At least 40 people were killed and another 119 injured at the Le Constellation bar in southwestern Switzerland when the fire broke out about 1.30am on January 1
Swiss bar inferno: How the Crans-Montana blaze unfolded
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Ariella had two friends in the club at the time and she still does not know whether or not both perished in the fire.
‘I had two friends that were there, one was, we learned today, that she was dead and the other one we still don’t have any news,’ she told the Herald Sun.
‘I’m very shocked, I can’t really imagine that she’s really gone.’
Ariella said she is not holding out much hope for her second friend being found because both had been hanging out together on the night.
She fears that both their fates were the same because of this.
Her brother, Yaron, was out celebrating New Year’s away from the bar in Crans-Montana before he rushed over after hearing about the fire which had broken out.
Yaron was apparently supposed to be in Le Constellation with his friends but had ducked out to ‘grab a cup of water’.
He said he was meant to head back soon after.
The French couple who own the bar could face manslaughter charges if their safety standards or fire precautions were found to be lacking
Ariella laid down flowers for her friend, Alix Perroud, who is confirmed to have died in the fire
Yaron still has four of his friends missing following the deadly fire, none of which have been confirmed as alive or dead.
They were all inside the basement venue when the blaze erupted.
‘I (was) very shocked when I got here, I got here a few minutes after the fire extinguished,’ he told the publication.
‘I couldn’t move or anything, I just couldn’t feel anything in my body anymore as I knew friends were in there.’
His friends who were in the venue included Benjamin Johnson, 17, Benjamin Brackbush, 17, Zelle Fournier, 18, and Dalia Benkirane, 16.
Yaron said he has been desperately trying to contact each of them but thus far has not been able to reach any of them.
The drinking age in Switzerland is 16, which explains why many young people were among the crowd when the fire broke out.
Emmanuele Galeppini, 17, was the first victim to be identified after his death was confirmed in an Instagram post by the Italian Golf Federation on Friday.
Jacques Moretti, 49, and his wife Jessica, 40, the French couple who own the bar, could face manslaughter charges over the tragedy if their safety standards or fire precautions were found to be lacking, Swiss authorities have said.
