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Survivors of the catastrophic bar fire in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana are being cared for in specialized trauma centers in various European nations, while authorities say many of the dead were so badly burned that naming the victims could take days or weeks.

A Tragedy of Terrifying Scale

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

“Our primary goal is to assign names to all the bodies,” said Crans-Montana’s mayor Nicolas Féraud.

The Swiss president, Guy Parmelin, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, horrifying proportions” as he outlined the devastating toll. “Behind these figures are individuals, names, families, lives brutally cut short, completely interrupted or irrevocably damaged,” Parmelin said at a news conference.

Gruelling Identification Process

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 urgent appeals for news of their loved ones and foreign embassies scrambled to determine if their citizens were among those involved in one of the worst disasters to strike the country in recent memory.

Mathias Reynard, the head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental records and DNA samples for the task. “All this work needs to be done because the findings is so distressing and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100% sure,” he explained.

Hospitals Reach Capacity

Even with one of the world’s most advanced medical systems, Switzerland’s regional clinics quickly reached capacity in the hours after the fire. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals with dedicated burn centers in Zurich and Lausanne and six were flown to Geneva, according to news agencies.

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

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.

International Victims

Italy and France are among the countries that have said some of their nationals are missing 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 another nation has put the death toll at 47, based on preliminary information.

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

The Italian ambassador said all but five of the injured had now been named. A number of Italians are still missing and more than a dozen receiving treatment. Some victims were repatriated on Thursday with more to follow.

The French foreign ministry said several nationals were among the injured and additional individuals remained unaccounted for. Australia has said one of its nationals was injured.

Families in Anguish

Loved ones have been working desperately to find their missing family members, using social media to circulate photos of those still missing.

Paulo Martins, a French citizen resident in the area for 24 years, said his son and his girlfriend just avoided being in the bar at the time of the fire. “When he came home he was deeply traumatized,” 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 barrier of temporary barriers, 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. No information. Even the parents don’t know.”

She and a friend later received news that one friend was in a coma in a hospital in Lausanne.

Long Road to Recovery

The director of the city’s teaching hospital, Claire Charmet, said it was treating 22 severely injured patients, most between 16 to 26.

“Patients are being medically stabilized and transferred to the operating theatre or to specialised beds,” she informed a local newspaper. “We need to be aware that the treatment will be long and intense, lasting several weeks or even many months.”