Crans-Montana (Switzerland) (AFP) - Swiss investigators raced Friday to identify victims of a ski resort fire at a New Year’s celebration that killed some 40 people and injured around 115 more, in one of the country’s worst tragedies.

Early Friday morning, the luxury ski resort town of Crans-Montana appeared enveloped in a stunned silence, although a handful of families with young children in ski suits were nevertheless preparing for a day on the slopes.

At the few cafes open, the tragedy appeared to be the topic of every muffled conversation.

“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.

Canton president Mathias Reynard told the regional daily Walliser Bote that at least 80 of the 115 injured are in critical condition.

- ‘The apocalypse’ -

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

“Given the international nature of the Crans resort, we can expect foreign nationals to be among the victims,” local police commander Frederic Gisler said.

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 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.

Guy Parmelin, who became Swiss president 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 neighbouring Chermignon-d’en-Bas, told AFP. “That’s the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse.”

- Panic -

On Friday, the walls of the buildings adjacent to the bar showed no signs of blackening from the flames, and even the bar’s sign and wooden terrace appeared untouched, indicating that the fire was primarily in the basement.

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

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

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 spreading quickly as revellers initially continued to dance, not seeming to grasp the severity of the situation.

One young man playfully attempts to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth, but the scene becomes panic-stricken as people scramble and scream 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 and had the required number of exits.

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

After emergency units at local hospitals filled up, many of the injured were transported across Switzerland and to neighbouring countries.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italian broadcaster Rete 4 that around 15 Italians had been injured in the fire, and a similar number remained missing.

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

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