After a service in a church in Crans-Montana, the procession walked in silence through the small town up the hill to the fire-ravaged bar Le Constellation.
There, flowers were laid at the improvised memorial site. Many cried and hugged each other in the crowd. After a moment, the silence was broken by a collective applause.
"It's important to support each other, to hug each other," local resident Véronique Barras told AP.
Several minor victims
Cathy Premer noted that the bar is usually well-attended every New Year.
"It's always very festive. There were people from many countries there. And it all turned into a tragedy," she said.
Since the tragic incident, work has been ongoing to identify the remains of the 40 victims of the fire. On Sunday, police announced that all have been identified.
Most of them were teenagers and several of them were minors. The youngest identified were Swiss girls: a 14-year-old and two 15-year-olds.
The roof caught fire
The explosive fire broke out at Le Constellation after 1 a.m. on New Year's Eve. Images and testimonies show that the ceiling in the venue's basement caught fire when champagne bottles with so-called ice torches were held too close to the ceiling.
In addition to the fatalities, 119 people were injured in the fire, many of them seriously.
On Saturday, the Swiss prosecutor's office announced that the bar's two owners are suspected of, among other things, manslaughter and negligent endangerment of the public.
