Champagne sparklers blamed for Swiss bar fire that killed 40

Investigators said on Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a Swiss ski resort when they came too close to the ceiling of a bar crowded with New Year’s Eve revellers.

Authorities planned to look into whether the material on the ceiling that was designed to muffle sound conformed with regulations.

The candles, which give off a stream of upwards-shooting sparks, were the same type that is commonly available for parties, officials said.

Forty people were killed and another 119 injured in the blaze as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said.

Most injuries, many of them serious, occurred when the blaze swept through the crowded bar in southwestern Switzerland in the early hours of Thursday.

The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue. Overnight, the Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.