Family of missing teen desperate for news

The family of a teenager missing after a fire broke out in a bar in a Swiss ski resort are facing an agonizing wait for official news and have appealed for information about their loved one to be made available online.

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, a fire ripped through Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps in southwestern Switzerland. Verified images show the ceiling set on fire as bottles containing fireworks were held aloft.

Swiss authorities said the fire killed 40 people and injured 119 others, and it may take days or even weeks to identify the victims. Officials said on Friday that 113 of the injured had been identified and authorities were still working to identify six others.

Meanwhile, family and friends have been appealing on social media for information about loved ones who were at the pub that night.

The whereabouts of Swiss nationals Arthur BroadThe whereabouts of the 16-year-old are unknown, according to an appeal from his mother Laetitia.

The resident of Lutry, near Lausanne, told local newspaper Le Temps that she had returned to Lausanne to check if he was in hospital, while Arthur’s father did the same in Bern but could not find him.

“I’m living a nightmare, a nightmare. Either I find my son in the morgue or I find him in critical condition. It’s horrible,” she said.

Letitia told the newspaper that some of Arthur’s friends were found with burns covering nearly half their bodies. “There are no words; they went through hell.”

Italy’s foreign ministry said six Italian citizens were still missing.

Among them are Emanuele Gallepinia 16-year-old junior golfer from Genoa but now living in Dubai.

The Italian Golf Federation said he had died but made no mention of the fire, instead paying tribute to “a young athlete full of passion and true values”.

Italian TV channel TG24 quoted his father Eduardo as saying his son was at the bar and was last heard from around midnight. A spokesman for Italy’s foreign ministry told the BBC that no deaths had been confirmed.

Giovanni TambriThe 16-year-old was also among the missing. His mother, Carla Masiello, who is from Bologna, told La Repubblica that he was on holiday with his father but went out with friends and ended up at the Constellation Hotel.

“One of his close friends told me that they ran away after the fire and that he had his mobile phone with him, but then at some point he was no longer seen,” she told the newspaper, adding that he wore a gold chain around his neck with a small Madonna.

One of his teachers at Zaragozamen High School, Tania Causio, told La Repubblica: “I was always impressed by his kindness and his smile and his maturity. Every time I walked into the classroom he would ask me if I wanted him to get me a cup of coffee.”

Alice KalergisAccording to Greek media sources and reports, he, who has dual Greek-Swiss citizenship but lives permanently in Switzerland, was also seen at the bar on New Year’s Eve.

Her brother launched an appeal on Instagram, saying the family had “no news about the 15-year-old girl or the three friends who disappeared with her”.

Greek consular authorities said they were continuing to monitor developments closely.

Additional reporting by Nikos Papanikolaou