BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Hundreds gathered in silence in the freezing night in Crans-Montana on Thursday evening, laying flowers and lighting candles to remember those killed in a blaze as they celebrated the New Year.

Around 40 people died and more than 100 were injured in the fire that ripped through the crowded Le Constellation bar around 1:30 a.m. (0030 GMT).

Many of those who came to mourn the tragedy stood, motionless, overlooking the scene. People spoke in whispers, if at all.

“I wasn’t (at the bar) myself, but I had many friends and relatives who were,” said one young mourner, who gave his surname as Orosstevic.

“Some died, others are in the hospital. About 10,” he told AFP.

“They’re mostly friends of my parents, but I know them very well.”

Orosstevic said he had bought flowers to lay down “as a small tribute”.

“May they rest in peace.”

Nearby, some friends hugged, sobbing. Men stood looking straight ahead with stunned, damp eyes.

Mathys, from neighboring Chermignon-d’en-Bas, told AFP at the vigil: “It’s a bar where we meet up with lots of friends, really, almost every weekend. It was one of the only weekends we weren’t there.

“We thought it was just a small fire—but when we got there, it was war. That’s the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse. It was terrible.”

Paulo Martins, a French citizen who has lived in the area for 24 years, told AFP: “My son could very well have been in there. He wasn’t far away.

“He was with his girlfriend; they were supposed to go in. And in the end, they didn’t make it there,” he said.

“When he came home, he was really in shock.”

A friend of his 17-year-old son has been transferred for treatment in Germany, with his body 30 percent covered in burns.

Mourners laid tributes on a table temporarily put up at the entrance of the road leading down to the bar, which was blocked from view by white screens.