Geneva, Jan. 2 -- Around 40 people were killed and more than 110 others injured after a fire broke out at a bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort in Valais Canton in southwestern Switzerland, local police said on Thursday.
Valais Canton Police Chief Frederic Gisler confirmed the casualty figures at a second press conference held in the afternoon.
"We are counting around 40 people who have died and 115 injured, most of them seriously," Gisler told reporters.
Those injured, most of them young people, were taken to hospitals in Sion, capital of Valais Canton, as well as in other cities, including Lausanne, Zurich and Geneva, according to police.
Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais cantonal government, said some of the injured may later ...