Swiss police are warning it could take days or even weeks to identify everyone who perished, leaving an agonising wait for relatives. "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," Eleonore, 17, tells AFP.

MONTANA, Switzerland, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Investigators on Friday set about the painful task of identifying the burned bodies of a blaze that engulfed a crowded bar and killed around 40 people at a New Year's Eve party in the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana.

About 40 people were killed and more than 100 injured, many gravely, in a fire in a bar at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps during a New Year’s celebration on Thursday. The Swiss president said it was “one of the worst tragedies our country has ever experienced.”

Tahirys Dos Santos was on holiday in the Swiss Alps with friends when the fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. local time during New Year’s celebrations.

The Swiss president expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of a fire at a Swiss Alps bar during a New Year’s celebration.

About 40 people celebrating at a ski resort bar were killed, and 115 were injured, many of them young, the authorities said.

The Swiss nightclub where dozens died in a tragic New Year’s Eve fire advertised the feature that witnesses allege caused the blaze. At 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day in Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland, local club Le Constellation erupted in a blaze, leading to the death of at least 40, while over 100 more were taken injured.

Witnesses said it was one of those bottles — with a sparkler attached — that caught the ceiling of the basement “Le Constellation” bar on fire.