CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a Swiss ski resort when they came too close to the ceiling of a bar crowded with New Year’s Eve revelers.

Authorities planned to look into whether the sound-dampening material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether sparklers were permitted for use in the bar.

The candles, which give off a stream of upward-shooting sparks, were the same type that is commonly available for parties, officials said.

Forty people were killed and another 119 injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the worst tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Many of the wounded were in their teens to mid-20s, police said.

Officials said they would also look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes.

Beatrice Pilloud, the attorney general for the Valais region, warned of possible prosecutions if any criminal liability is found.

The injured included 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, according to Frédéric Gisler, police commander of the Valais region. The nationalities of 14 people were still unclear.

Among the crowd was Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, who said he felt as if he was suffocating inside the Swiss Alpine bar where moments before he had been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of other people.

The teenager escaped the inferno, which broke out early Thursday, by forcing a window open with a table. The dead included one of Clavier’s friends, and he told The Associated Press that two or three other friends remained missing hours after the disaster.

Late Thursday, mourners left candles and flowers at an impromptu memorial near the bar. Hundreds of others prayed for the victims at the nearby Church of Montana-Station.

Pope Leo sent a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion, Switzerland, to express condolences and pray that “the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

On Instagram, an account filled up with photos of people who were unaccounted for, with friends and relatives begging for tips about their whereabouts.

“We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say, of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Valais regional government head Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. He lauded the work of emergency officials on the day after the fire but added “in the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

Clavier, the Parisian teenager, said he did not see the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles topped with burning sparklers.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from the basement nightclub up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door.

Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside.

Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation, rushed to the bar to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.

“I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Campolo told TF1.

The severity of the burns has made it difficult to identify bodies, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. In some cases, wallets and any identification documents inside turned to ash in the flames.

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, was officially listed as one of Italy’s missing nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is a major destination for international alpine skiing competitions. It’s also home to the European Masters each August.

Leicester reported from Sion, Switzerland. Dazio reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalists Geir Moulson in Berlin, Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Nicole Winfield and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — About 40 people were killed and another 115 injured, most of them seriously, after a fire ripped through a bar’s New Year celebration in a Swiss Alpine resort less than two hours after midnight Thursday, police said.

Authorities did not immediately have an exact count of the deceased.

The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue, and overnight, its crowded Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of potentially one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.

Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference that work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families, adding that the community is “devastated.”

Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.

“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.

Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris who survived the blaze, described “total chaos” inside the bar. One of his friends died and “two or three were missing,” he told The Associated Press.

He said he hadn’t seen the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles with sparklers, he said.

Clavier said he felt like he was suffocating and initially hid behind a table, then ran upstairs and tried to use a table to break a Plexiglas window. It fell out of its casing, allowing him to escape.

He lost his jacket, shoes, phone and bank card while fleeing, but “I am still alive and it’s just stuff.”

“I’m still in shock,” he added.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.

Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.

Officials described how the blaze likely triggered the release of combustible gases that ignited violently and caused what English-speaking firefighters call a flashover or backdraft.

“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government of the Valais Canton.

The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, Reynard said.

Crans-Montana is less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Sierre, Switzerland, where 28 people, including many children, were killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel in 2012.

In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit. The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan Cortina Olympics in February. The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.

The Swiss blaze on Thursday came 25 years after an inferno in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam on New Year’s Eve, which killed 14 people and injured more than 200 as they celebrated in a cafe.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin said in a social media post that the government’s “thoughts go to the victims, to the injured and their relatives, to whom it addresses its sincere condolences.”

Thursday was Parmelin’s first day in office as the seven members of Switzerland’s government take turns holding the presidency for one year. Out of respect for the families of the victims, he delayed a traditional New Year’s address to the nation meant to be broadcast Thursday afternoon, Swiss broadcasters SRF and RTS reported.

Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Paris. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the name of Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government of the Valais Canton.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world began welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.

Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. A light display recognized Indigenous people.

Countries in the South Pacific Ocean are the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York.

Conflict muted acknowledgements of the new year in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.

Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbor Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others gathered at iconic Sydney Harbor for the celebration. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong with the crowd.

The celebration also featured Indigenous ceremonies and performances that acknowledged the land’s first people.

Much of Japan shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning.

The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin. Other places in Asia will mark the Year of the Snake later with the Lunar New Year.

In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or canceled during a period of national mourning following the Sunday crash of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.

In Thailand’s Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows. A fireworks display in Indonesia’s Jakarta featured 800 drones.

Chinese state media covered an exchange of New Year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between the leaders who face tensions with the West.

Xi told Putin their countries will “always move forward hand in hand,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.

China has maintained ties and robust trade with Russia since the latter invaded Ukraine in 2022, helping to offset Western sanctions and attempts to isolate Putin.

In India, thousands of revelers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea. In Sri Lanka, people gathered at Buddhist temples to light oil lamps and incense sticks and pray.

In Dubai, thousands are were attending a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. And in Nairobi, Kenya, scattered fireworks were heard as midnight approached.

Rome’s traditional New Year’s Eve festivities have an additional draw: the start of Pope Francis’ Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration projected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the Eternal City in 2025.

On Tuesday, Francis will celebrate a vespers at St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by Mass on Wednesday, when he is expected to again appeal for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Jan. 1 is a day of obligation for Catholics, marking the Solemnity of Mary.

Paris was capping a momentous 2024 with its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysées.

The Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games hosted in the French capital from July to September had transformed the city into a site of joy, fraternity and astonishing sporting achievements.

Frank and Rowena Klar from San Francisco visited the French capital to celebrate 31 years together. “If you start it big, we think we’re going to have a great year,” he said.

London was due to ring in the New Year with a pyrotechnic display along the River Thames. With a storm bringing bitter weather to other parts of the United Kingdom, however, festivities in Edinburgh, Scotland, were canceled.

But in Switzerland and some other places people embraced the cold, stripping and plunging into the water in freezing temperatures.

Rio de Janeiro will throw Brazil’s main New Year’s Eve bash on Copacabana Beach, with ferries offshore bearing 12 straight minutes of fireworks. Thousands of tourists in cruise ships will witness the show up close.

More than 2 million people were expected at the Copacabana, hoping to squeeze into concerts by superstar Brazilian artists such as pop singer Anitta and Grammy-award winner Caetano Veloso.

In New York City, the organization managing Times Square has tested its famous ball drop and inspected 2025 numerals, lights and thousands of crystals as part of a tradition going back to 1907. This year’s celebration will include musical performances by TLC, Jonas Brothers, Rita Ora and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Las Vegas’ pyrotechnic show will be on the Strip, with 340,000 people anticipated as fireworks are launched from the rooftops of casinos. Nearby, the Sphere venue will display for the first time countdowns to midnight in different time zones.

In Pasadena, Rose Parade spectators were camping out and hoping for prime spots. And some 200,000 people were flocking to a country music party in Nashville, Tennessee.

American Samoa will be among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.