Revelers around the globe welcomed 2026 with parties and celebrations, including fireworks. In Switzerland, a horrific accident at about 1:30 a.m. transformed such festivities in the ski-resort town of Crans-Montana, Valais, into one of the country’s worst tragedies.
Forty people were killed and 119 injured in a fire that broke out at the Le Constellation event space after sparklers ignited the roof, engulfing the venue within seconds. Half of the victims were under the age of 18, including three Jewish girls who lost their lives in the blaze.
Rabbi Levi Pevzner of Chabad-Lubavitch of Geneva, under the leadership of his parents, Rabbi Mendel and Peshie Pevzner, also serves the Jewish community in Crans-Montana, just over two hours away, alongside his wife, Chana. He was woken up early on Jan. 1 with news of the fire and immediately rushed to the scene to assist the victims and their families, offering help in whatever way possible.
“Starting early Thursday morning and continuing since, we have been here for all those affected, Jewish or otherwise,” he said. “The situation is tragic and heartbreaking, but we are doing whatever is in our power to take even a small measure of the burden off those who are suffering.”
The first person he encountered at the scene was a Jewish mother from his community, desperately searching for her daughter.
“The situation was utter chaos,” the rabbi recalled. “Emergency services were overwhelmed, and victims had been transported to hospitals across Switzerland, as well as to facilities in France, Italy and Germany. Many of the injured were severely burned, some beyond recognition. In certain cases, it took days to identify them. Parents had no idea where their children were or whether they were among the injured or the dead.”
‘Quiet, Practical Care When It Is Needed Most’
From the scene, Rabbi Pevzner headed to the emergency center, where anxious families were gathered, waiting for any news of their loved ones.
“I saw all the families there, and I went straight to wake up the kitchen staff at our Chabad House,” he said. “It was 5 a.m. By 8 a.m., we already had hundreds of meals prepared and delivered to the emergency center, because, at the end of the day, people need to eat.”
“What was most striking was how spontaneous and unified the response was. Within hours, nearly 50 women came spontaneously to Chabad’s kitchen in Crans-Montana to prepare food for the families of the victims and the injured. It was not organized in advance; it came purely from the heart,” added Chana Pevzner. “In moments like these, you see the true strength of our community and the essence of the Chabad mission: responsibility for one another and quiet, practical care when it is needed most.”
Together with his staff, Rabbi Pevzner brought sandwiches, soups, cakes, chocolates and other food, arriving hours before other organizations were able to mobilize.
“There were hundreds of people at the emergency center, all waiting for an update about a son, daughter, sibling or relative,” he said. “People didn’t even know who had been at the bar at the time of the fire. Many families were left in limbo for hours on end.”
The food enabled families, along with police and first responders, to endure those first chaotic hours. Even after the Swiss Red Cross arrived several hours later, officials continued to rely on Chabad for an accurate tally of family members gathered at the emergency center.
As the situation slowly became clearer, Chabad organized a task force of volunteers to contact hospitals across the region in an effort to locate missing individuals.
“Our volunteers called hospital after hospital, asking about the names of those unaccounted for,” Rabbi Pevzner said. “In some cases, they were able to confirm information about victims a full day before families would have learned it through official channels.”
Tragically, among the victims were Charlotte Needham, a 15-year-old Jewish girl who held French, Israeli and British citizenship, as well as Swiss Jewish sisters Alicia Gunst, 15, and Diana Gunst, 14. Other Jewish victims suffered burns and remain hospitalized in varying conditions.
Rabbi Pevzner remained at the families’ side as they struggled to process the devastating news. He connected the families of those who were hospitalized with their local Chabad centers and rabbis, ensuring that each had support close to home.
‘Courage and Moral Support to Everyone’
Together with his father, Rabbi Mendel Pevzner, the Chabad rabbi for French-speaking Jews in Switzerland, he also contacted ZAKA Search and Rescue in Israel, the organization that specializes in the identification and recovery of disaster victims. Within hours, a team was assembled and flown in to assist with the rescue and recovery efforts. The team, which has extensive experience responding to tragedies of this scale, was also able to provide comfort and support to local first responders, many of whom were deeply shaken after confronting a disaster of such magnitude for the first time.
“In the emergency rooms, I tried to offer courage and moral support to everyone, even those who didn’t share my language,” he said. “There were religious Catholics from Italy with whom I shared neither a religion nor a common language. But we shared the language of the heart, and we offered whatever support we could.”
Rabbi Pevzner says that both the Jewish community and the broader Crans-Montana community, described as close-knit, remain “in shock.”
“Right now, it is too early to look back at what happened,” he said. “We are still in survival mode. We are still in shock.
“We do not understand what G‑d does or why He does it. That is beyond us. But what we do know is that when something happens, especially a tragedy of this magnitude, we cannot remain unchanged. We have to act. We have to help one another.
“And we should not reserve this unity and respect for moments of tragedy alone,” he added. “We must strive to carry it forward into good times as well, even if those times feel hard to imagine right now. That sense of unity will ultimately bring us to the Messianic age, when we will be reunited with our loved ones, and when G‑d will bring an end to all suffering.”
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