Bodies of five Italian teens being repatriated after Swiss fire

The bodies of five of the six Italian nationals killed in the Swiss fire disaster in Crans-Montana were being repatriated on Monday, four days after the tragedy that claimed 40 lives.

The teenagers’ coffins were transported from a funeral centre in Sion, southwest Switzerland, to the military section of the city’s airport.

Four Swiss police officers carried each coffin into the Italian air force plane. Officers saluted at the foot of the ramp as the cream-coloured coffins were taken aboard, an AFP journalist saw.

The C130 transport plane was due to land first at Milan Linate airport in neighbouring Italy late Monday, from where four coffins will be transferred to Milan itself, Bologna and Genoa, Italian authorities said. The plane was then to fly on to Rome with the fifth coffin.

Swiss authorities believe the fire in Le Constellation bar, in the upscale Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana, was started in the basement by sparklers attached to champagne bottles, in the early hours of Thursday morning, as people celebrated the New Year.

Gian Lorenzo Cornado, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, told reporters at Sion airport: “We have pledged to do everything we can, in conjunction with the Swiss authorities; we will follow the investigation closely so that the truth is known as quickly as possible and justice is served.”

The inferno left 40 people dead and 119 injured, with many teenagers and young adults among the victims.

Late Sunday, police in Switzerland’s Wallis canton said they had identified all of the deceased. They included 21 Swiss nationals and one French-Swiss dual national, aged 14 to 31.

A total of 18 foreign nationals, aged 14 to 39, were also among the dead.

The foreign nationals included two Italian girls, aged 15 and 16, three 16-year-old Italian boys, and a 16-year-old Italian-Emirati dual national.

Of the 40 killed, most were aged under 18.

Six of the 119 injured remain unidentified.

“We had victims, injured people, who were in such a serious condition that identification has been very difficult so far,” Mathias Reynard, president of the Wallis cantonal government, told France Info radio on Monday.

AFP