Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Rescuers in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana were continuing the search Friday for victims of a deadly blaze in a bar that killed at least 40 revellers early New Year's Day and injured 115, many of them in critical condition with severe burns.
More than a dozen helicopters and 42 ambulances rushed victims to hospitals with special burns units as far away as Milan, Germany and France, as authorities warned it could take days or weeks to identify those killed after fire ripped through the Constellation Bar.
"We are painfully aware that identifying the bodies, as well as the injured, may still take a terribly long time for the families involved," said Valais region Gov. Mathias Reynard.
The identification process was being hampered by numerous factors, including that most of the victims are thought to be young and were unlikely to have dental implants, pacemakers or other traceable devices, meaning authorities would have to depend on DNA matching with relatives which would be further complicated by victims coming from all over the world.
Geneva University Hospitals' head of emergency medicine, Dr. Robert Larribau, told BBC Radio that patients they were treating had sustained severe third-degree burns, some with "internal" burns, after inhaling smoke.
