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Those who escaped of the devastating nightclub blaze in the upmarket Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are receiving treatment in specialized trauma centers in various European nations, while investigators say many of the dead were so badly burned that naming the victims could take an extended period.

A Calamity of Unprecedented Proportions

About 40 people were lost their lives and 115 hurt when the inferno engulfed a New Year’s Eve celebration in the crowded Constellation bar and underground club.

“The first objective is to assign names to all the victims,” said local official Nicolas Féraud.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, described the fire “a disaster of unparalleled, horrifying proportions” as he outlined the heavy human cost. “Behind these figures are individuals, names, families, lives tragically ended, completely interrupted or irrevocably damaged,” Parmelin said at a news conference.

Challenging Task of Naming Victims

Such was the severity were the victims’ burns that Swiss officials said the process of identification was particularly gruelling. Families of unaccounted-for young people issued pleas for news of their family members and foreign embassies worked urgently to find out if their nationals were among those involved in one of the worst tragedies to strike modern Switzerland.

A regional leader, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said forensic specialists were using dental charts and DNA samples for 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 completely certain,” he explained.

Overwhelmed Medical Systems

Despite having one of the world’s most sophisticated healthcare networks, Switzerland’s local hospitals quickly reached capacity in the hours after the blaze. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with specialised burns units in Zurich and Lausanne and six were flown to Geneva, as reported by news agencies.

A significant number of the injured were flown to other countries including Belgium, France and Germany, while the EU said it had been in contact with Swiss authorities about providing medical assistance.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, stated online he had offered his country’s help as clinics in Paris and Lyon took in patients, while Sweden and North Macedonia also said they had hospital beds available.

A Multinational Tragedy

Italy and France are among the countries that have said a number of their citizens are unaccounted for and Italy’s diplomatic representative to Switzerland said the Italian foreign minister would visit Crans-Montana.

Swiss officials have said about 40 people were killed but a foreign government has put the fatality count at 47, based on preliminary information.

A regional health and safety official said on Friday he was “taken aback” by the latter figure. “This is not the same number that we have,” he told a radio station.

The Italian ambassador said the majority of the injured had now been named. A number of Italians are still missing and more than a dozen hospitalised. Some victims were returned home on Thursday with more to follow.

The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens were among the injured and eight others remained unaccounted for. Australia has said one of its nationals was injured.

Families in Anguish

Loved ones have been working desperately to find their loved ones, using online platforms to share images of those unaccounted for.

Paulo Martins, a French citizen living in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend narrowly missed being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was really in shock,” Martins said.

A friend of his 17-year-old son had been transferred for treatment in Germany with severe burns covering a third of his body, Martins added.

Eleonore, 17, started the year with a desperate hunt for friends who have been missing since the fire. Outside the bar, now covered by white tarpaulins and a wall of temporary fencing, she said she had not heard from them since New Year’s Eve.

“We took many pictures [and] we put them on Instagram, Facebook, every social network possible to try to find them,” she explained. “But there’s nothing. No response. We called the parents. Nothing. Even the parents haven't heard anything.”

She and a friend managed to get news that one friend was in a medically induced unconsciousness in a hospital in Lausanne.

Treatment Will Be Lengthy

The director of the city’s university hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 badly burned patients, most ranging in age from 16 to 26.

“Patients are being medically stabilized and moved to the surgery or to intensive care units,” she told a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the treatment will be long and intense, lasting many weeks or even many months.”