Indonesia clip falsely shared as Swiss bar fire
- Published on January 9, 2026 at 05:33
- 3 min read
- By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
Forty people were killed when a blaze ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana on New Year's Day. A video showing people waving napkins near a fire installation has been falsely linked to the incident on social media, but it was in fact filmed in the Indonesian island of Bali a week before.
"Video footage from inside the bar shows the moment the fire started," reads a Douyin post on January 2, 2026 written in simplified Chinese. It includes hashtags that say "Swiss bar New Year's Eve" and "explosion and fire at bar in Switzerland".
The post, which has been shared over 1,400 times, includes a 14-second clip showing a group of people dancing and swinging white cloths next to burning leaves arrayed across the counter of a kitchen.
Decorations on the kitchen ignite and the flames quickly spread to the ceiling, as patrons filming the scene scramble to leave.
Similar posts spread elsewhere on Douyin, and in other languages including English, French and Spanish after a deadly fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year's Day, leaving 40 dead and 116 injured (archived link). Twenty-six of those killed were teenagers.
Prosecutors believe the fire started when people celebrating the New Year raised champagne bottles with sparklers attached, setting light to sound insulation foam on the ceiling in the bar's basement section.
Swiss authorities said fire safety inspections were not conducted between 2020 and 2025.
French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti, who owned and managed Le Constellation, are facing charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence (archived link).
However, the circulating footage is unrelated to the incident.
A reverse image search revealed that a longer version of the clip was published on December 22, 2025 on Instagram (archived link). It further shows a man trying to put out the flame with a fire extinguisher.
The video's Russian-language caption tags a restaurant named Bella Canggu.
According to Google Maps and the restaurant's website, Bella Canggu is located in Canggu, a resort village in Bali, Indonesia (archived here and here).
The restaurant advertises its "Taverna Nights" -- where guests wave napkins, smash plates and dance on tables -- in one of its Instagram posts (archived link).
A video of its staff waving napkins next to burning leaves can be found in its Instagram Highlight named "TAVERNATHURSDAY", with pictures showing settings and the staff's attire matching those in the clip (archived link).
The social media user who posted the video and the restaurant did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.
The fire department in Badung Regency -- which is in charge of the Canggu area -- told AFP on January 8 the fire shown in the video happened in Bella Canggu on December 22, 2025.
I Ketut Agus Pasek Sudina, the head of the North Kuta police, separately said no one died in the fire, but the property damage cost approximately 305 million Indonesian rupiah ($18,100).
Indonesian media outlet Detik also reported on the fire on December 25, 2025 with a picture showing a similar scene in the circulating clip (archived link).
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