A teenager who received education in the UK is among the individuals unaccounted for following a fatal fire at a bar in Switzerland. Charlotte Niddam, reportedly 15 years old, has not been in contact since the fire occurred at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Valais, on New Year’s Day around 1:30 am. Friends have taken to social media to make heartfelt pleas for help in locating Charlotte. She had previously attended Immanuel College, a private Jewish school in Bushey, Hertfordshire.
Images of Charlotte were circulated on Thursday via the Instagram account @cransmontana.avisderecherche, set up to aid in finding missing persons. One photo is captioned, “Dressed like in the photo on the right.”
On TikTok, a friend named Mia shared a series of Charlotte’s pictures along with a message expressing love and longing for her missing friend. Another friend named Summer posted a compilation of videos showing them dancing and laughing together, reminiscing about their friendship. Charlotte’s nationality is not definitively known, although her parents are thought to be French. According to The Sun, the family resided in Bushey for several years before relocating to Switzerland, where a neighbor described Charlotte as “kind” and “intelligent,” expressing sadness over the tragic incident.
Swiss authorities reported that the fire likely started when sparkler candles, also known as flares, placed on champagne bottles, inadvertently came too close to the ceiling.
As of now, the death toll has reached 40. Valais police chief Frédéric Gisler emphasized the importance of formally identifying the victims. Out of the 119 individuals injured, 113 have been officially identified, leaving six still unidentified. The injured include 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French, 11 Italians, four Serbs, and one person each from Bosnia, Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg, and Portugal. The nationalities of 14 individuals are pending confirmation.