'Are they OK?': desperate search for the missing after Swiss fire
The Peninsula
Crans Montana, Switzerland: Teenagers Eleonore and Elisa started the year with a frantic search for friends who have been missing since a deadly fire...
Crans-Montana, Switzerland: Teenagers Eleonore and Elisa started the year with a frantic search for friends who have been missing since a deadly fire tore through an establishment in a neighbouring Swiss town.
"Are they OK? Are they just at the hospital?" one of the 17-year-olds says.
They have not heard from them since a blaze tore through a New Year's celebration in the luxury resort town of Crans-Montana, turning what should have been a night of revelry into a globe-spanning tragedy.
Police estimate around 40 people have been killed and about 115 injured, many of them young visitors to the Swiss Alps.
Officials have started the arduous process of identifying the victims, but with some of the bodies badly burned, police warned the process could take days or even weeks.
