A deadly New Year’s Eve fire at a bar in the Swiss Alps has prompted false images and narratives about the blaze's origin to spread online.
A deadly fire tore through Le Constellation, a bar in located in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve, killing around 40 people and injuring 119, with the majority being teenagers.
As photos and videos of the incident spread online, misleading content and AI-generated images also circulated, prompting false narratives as well as conflicting reports regarding the cause of the fire being an explosion.
The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, has identified multiple videos and images circulating online in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The blaze broke out in the early hours of 1 January — turning New Year’s Eve celebrations into one of Switzerland’s worst recent tragedies.
Videos shared online and verified by The Cube which match the interior of the building show flames spreading on the ceiling of a bar area, with one party goer attempting to extinguish the fire with an object which appears to be an article of clothing or a piece of tissue.
Footage seemingly shot later from the outside of the venue shows people desperately trying to escape, while the interior of the bar is engulfed in flames, as seen through the windows.
Swiss authorities have ruled suggestions that the fire was an attack, confirming it appeared to be accidental.
Valais Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud said Friday that a preliminary investigation indicated the fire was caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles that were held too close to the ceiling.
An image shared by French News Channel BFMTV that matches the panelling, pipework and wall decor of official pictures shared of the bar's basement shows revellers holding up champagne bottles with sparklers and a small fire taking hold in the ceiling.
A police spokesperson responding to the scene initially referred to the fire as an “explosion of unknown origin," sparking confusion online in the direct aftermath of the incident. This led multiple social media accounts to relay false narratives regarding the cause of the fire being an explosion.
By the morning of 1 January, Swiss authorities had ruled out that the blaze was caused by an attack and, on the 2 January, it was announced that the sparklers were the likely trigger.
Misleading visuals
Accounts claiming the fire was caused by an explosion mixed real images of the aftermath of the blaze with false and misleading pictures.
One account claiming the “explosion” ripped through Le Constellation shared an unverified photograph of the building’s exterior alongside an undated image of New Year’s Eve fireworks over Sydney Harbour.
Authorities explained on Thursday that what some witnesses described as “explosions” were likely caused after the initial fire sparked a so-called flashover, causing everything in the room to ignite almost simultaneously in a very short space of time.
One widely circulated image on X and Instagram purported to show emergency workers in the aftermath of the blaze.
However, this photo is not from the Swiss tragedy. It shows emergency responders at the scene of a 2019 gas explosion in Poland.
Several news sites falsely shared the image, claiming it depicted the aftermath in Crans-Montana.
Another widely shared video on X claims to show the inside of the bar, with waiters dressed in white and red uniforms twirling handkerchiefs as a fire spreads.
This video is not of the fire in Crans Montana, but can be traced back to a fire that broke out in a restaurant in Bali during a fireshow in late December, where there were no reported fatalities.
Elsewhere, social media users shared pictures purportedly from the aftermath of the tragedy that appear to be AI-generated.
One image shared widely on X claims to show emergency workers operating outside a burned building with a “Le Constellation” sign.
Comparisons of this photo with the venue’s actual exterior clearly show this photo is fake.
On 3 January, Swiss prosecutors announced the opening of a criminal investigation into the owners of the bar, who are suspected of manslaughter by negligence bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.