Volkswacht Bodensee - Agonizing wait as Switzerland works to ID New Year's fire victims

Authorities began moving bodies from the burned-out bar in the luxury ski resort town Crans-Montana late Friday morning, with the first silver-coloured hearse rolling into the funeral centre in nearby Sion shortly after 11:00 am (1000 GMT), AFP journalists saw.

Around 115 people were also injured in the fire, many of them critical condition.

As the scope of the tragedy -- one of Switzerland's worst -- began to sink in, Crans-Montana appeared enveloped in a stunned silence.

"The atmosphere is heavy," Dejan Bajic, a 56-year-old tourist from Geneva who has been coming to the resort since 1974, told AFP.

"It's like a small village; everyone knows someone who knows someone who's been affected," he said.

It is not yet clear what set off the blaze at Le Constellation, a bar popular with young tourists, at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) Thursday.

Bystanders described scenes of panic and chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.

- 'Screaming in pain' -

Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he had seen "bodies lying here, ... covered with a white sheet", and "young people, totally burned, who were still alive... Screaming in pain".

The exact death toll was still being established.

And it could rise, with canton president Mathias Reynard telling the regional newspaper Walliser Bote that at least 80 of the 115 injured were in critical condition.

Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, an agonising wait for family and friends.

Condolences poured in from around the world, including from Pope Leo XIV, who offered "compassion and solidarity" to victims' families.

Online, desperate appeals abound to find the missing.

"We've tried to reach our friends. We took loads of photos and posted them on Instagram, Facebook, all possible social networks to try to find them," said Eleonore, 17. "But there's nothing. No response."

- 'The apocalypse' -

The exact number of people who were at the bar when it went up in flames remains unclear.

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

Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who took office on Thursday, called the fire "a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions" and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast for five days.

"We thought it was just a small fire -- but when we got there, it was war," Mathys, from the neighbouring village of Chermignon-d'en-Bas, told AFP. "That's the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse."

Authorities have declined to speculate on what caused the tragedy, saying only that it was not an attack.

Several witness accounts, broadcast by various media, pointed to sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a regular "show" for patrons.

- 'Dramatic' -

Pictures and videos shared on social media also showed sparklers on champagne bottles held into the air, as an orange glow began spreading across the ceiling.

One video showed the flames advancing quickly as revellers initially continued to dance.

One young man playfully attempted to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth, but the scene became panic-stricken as people scrambled and screamed in the dark against a backdrop of smoke and flames.

The canton's chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said investigators would examine whether the bar met safety standards.

Red and white caution tape, flowers and candles adorned the street outside, while police shielded the site with white screens.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said 13 Italians had been injured in the fire, and six remained missing, was among those to lay flowers at the site.

The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens figured among the injured, and eight others remained unaccounted for.

Patients are being treated in Italy, France and Germany, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country was ready to provide "specialised medical care to 14 injured".

Multiple sources told AFP the bar owners were French nationals: a couple originally from Corsica who, according to a relative, are safe, but have been unreachable since the tragedy.

A.Ruegg--VB