The extent of the suffering he witnessed after the fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland deeply shook the 22-year-old French tourist who happened to be at the scene of the accident.
Jeremy Halna told how he and his friends were among the first to help the victims even before the emergency services arrived, and the horrific scenes, he says, will haunt him for the rest of his life.
“We heard horrible screams”
In a video interview with Reuters, Halna described how they happened upon the site of the disaster. “People were in such distress that we could hear huge screams,” he said.
They immediately came to help, he says.
FLASH INFO – Une vidéo capture le départ de l’incendie au bar “Le Constellation” à Crans-Montana (VS), alors que le plafond s’embrase.#Suisse #CransMontana #Incendie
pic.twitter.com/f6IL9NYuyK— Media Express (@media_express_e) January 1, 2026
“Two of my friends went to get them. They entered the bar without thinking and grabbed the guy they found on the floor. They took him out of the bar. One of my friends stayed with him for an hour, an hour and a half, telling him, ‘It’s going to be okay, don’t worry,’” he described the dramatic moments.
While they helped the badly injured man, the rest of the company ran around town to get blankets and water for the other victims.
“We ran all over town, to the surrounding bars, to get blankets and water,” he recalled.
“People were very happy about it. I gave them my jacket. I could see that the person was really in trouble.”
The young Frenchman also told how he had been in the Le Constellation bar just the day before, describing it as a “cramped” basement reached by a small staircase. However, the scenes he found after the fire were etched in his memory forever, writes Hina.
“What shocks me the most are the pictures, the pictures that remain with me, people burned, so badly burned. You couldn’t even recognize them,” said Halna. “I think I’ll be traumatized for the rest of my life.”
(Vijesti.ba)
