Around 40 believed dead in blast at Swiss New Year party

Several dozen people are presumed dead and around 100 injured after a fire ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana, police said early Thursday.

Swiss police believe around 40 people died, the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the blaze was not thought to have been caused by arson.

Police, firefighters and rescuers rushed to the popular resort, one of the top-ranked ski destinations in Europe, after the fire broke out in the early hours of New Year's Day.

A tourist from New York filmed bright orange flames pouring from the bar, and told AFP he saw people running and screaming in the dark.

Authorities said they were still investigating the causes of the fire which erupted at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) at the Le Constellation bar, but said they did not believe it had been caused by an "attack".

"Several dozen people are presumed to have died," Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters, adding that around 100 people had been injured, many of them seriously.

"As I speak to you, all the injured are being treated," he said.

The hospitals in Wallis were full and had declared a state of emergency, with the injured being transported to various hospitals across Switzerland.

The Le Constellation has a capacity of 300 people and another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.

Earlier, a police spokesman told AFP some 100 people had gathered there for New Year celebrations.

Ambulances were still parked outside the bar hours later, and broken windows could be seen. Local media described a "smell of burning still in the air".

'Stunned'

Authorities said it was too early to provide an exact number of casualties, but said that since Crans-Montana is popular with tourists around the world, they expected them to include a number of nationalities.

At least two French citizens were among the injured, according to initial reports from the French foreign ministry.

Swiss media suggested that the fire may have started when pyrotechnics were used during a concert.

Police said the area was "completely closed to the public", and that "a no-fly zone over Crans-Montana has been imposed".

"The party was in full swing... music and champagne flowing freely," a resident who said they lived nearby told 24 heures, a Lausanne newspaper.

But as news of the fire broke, they said, the carefree mood vanished and people began gathering in the street. "We could hear the sirens in the distance. Around me, people were stunned, worried, silent."

"We heard helicopters all night long," another neighbour told 24 heures.

"With the fireworks, we didn't understand what was going on at first. Then we saw the smoke. It's terrible, a lot of young people go to that bar."