More affordable prices and the lack of an entrance fee made the bar an attractive alternative to more upmarket establishments.

As young partygoers rang in the New Year at a packed bar in the Swiss Alps, the celebrating quickly turned into a nightmare when a devastating fire tore through the basement, killing at least 40 people and injuring 119 others.

Images show the inside of a bar in a popular Swiss ski resort where dozens of people have died. Around 40 people are believed to have died and around 100 are injured after a fire ripped through the bar,

Witnesses reported seeing staff at the Le Constellation bar carrying so-called fountain candles atop bottles of champagne, and questions have also arisen about a foam material used to soundproof the ceiling of the basement where revellers danced.

Paolo Campolo, a 55-year-old father in Switzerland, is recalling how a New Year’s Eve phone call from his daughter allowed him to save the lives of at least 10 people at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana following a fire.

Beatrice Pilloud, the prosecutor general of the Valais canton in Switzerland, told the New York Times that evidence suggests that the sparkler-topped bottles were held too close to the ceiling in the basement of the popular bar in the Alps, Le Constellation.

Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana was owned by a French couple and is now under scrutiny. A New Year’s Eve fire inside the bar killed at least 40 people and injured others.