Protestant churches in Switzerland have announced a day of prayer and mourning for the 40 people killed in a hearth at a New Years Eve party on the Le Constellation bar within the Crans-Montana ski-resort.
The fire is believed to have been began by a sparkler coming into contact with sound insulation foam, based on a preliminary investigation. Questions have been asked about capability on the time of the disaster and why local authorities had not conducted a supposedly annual fire inspection on the bar since 2019.
As well as those killed, 116 people were injured within the tragedy – the deadliest incident to occur on Swiss soil since 1990, when Alitalia Flight 404 crashed near Zurich, killing all 46 people on board.
Ahead of the day of prayer on 9 January, the Evangelical Church of Switzerland (EKS) said that it wished to point out “solidarity” with those impacted by the incident.
“We is not going to leave each other alone – neither the bereaved nor the injured, neither the emergency services nor all those that are actually providing pastoral care, listening, praying, organizing, and carrying,” it said.
The Church also gave thanks for support from the international Christian community, noting a letter of condolence from the World Council of Churches that quoted Psalm 34: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Messages of support and prayer also got here in from the Evangelical Church within the Rhineland and the World Communion of Reformed Churches in Europe.
A memorial service is about to happen in Crans-Montana on 9 January. On the identical day the EKS said it will be ringing church bells across the country and organising prayers.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the deceased, with the injured, and with all those now struggling to recuperate,” it said.
It continued, “May we as churches in Switzerland and beyond proceed to face together – in prayer, in pastoral care, in concrete support. And may we discover traces of hope on this darkness: within the love that sustains, and in God, who’s near the broken.”
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