It's been a little over a day since the fire at the Le Constellation bar, where around 40 people lost their lives and over a hundred were injured. But Alfonso Marra, 67, hasn't been able to sleep. He was on the street outside the bar when the fire started.
"I had just picked up a customer when I heard the explosion and saw a cloud of fire in my rearview mirror. People came out burning and screaming," he says.
Gloomy mood
He describes the rest of the night as hell, with ambulances and fire engines running shuttles to and from the nightclub. He has two young daughters and cannot understand how something like this could happen.
"If it had been a natural disaster or something we couldn't prevent, I could understand - but this... I'm so angry. This didn't have to happen," he says.
The mood is gloomy in the otherwise lively and popular ski resort in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Many residents and vacationers have made their way to the neighborhood where the popular bar is located.
The bar is described as an institution in Crans-Montana and many have either visited it or know people who have been there. Now the street is cordoned off and white tents, typical of crime scenes, have been set up in front of the bar. Hundreds of candles are burning in front of the cordons.
A steady stream of people come to lay flowers or light candles for the victims and their relatives.
I was thinking of visiting the bar.
Alberto, 19, who lives in nearby Sierre, is here with his girlfriend and a couple of friends. They often visit the bar and had planned to go there on New Year's Eve as well.
"But there were too many people, so we went to another bar instead," he says, noticeably moved by what happened.
"All the people affected are our age. It could have been us," he says.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. The country's President Guy Parmelin described the fire as "one of the worst tragedies" to ever hit the country.
