Dozens of people are feared to have been killed and around 100 injured after an explosion tore through a crowded bar during a New Year’s Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Swiss police said on Thursday.

The Italian foreign ministry said information from Swiss police indicated about 40 deaths, but police would not be more specific than “tens” at a press conference on the incident, Reuters reported.

The fire broke out at 1.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) in a bar called “Le Constellation” in the resort in southwestern Switzerland.

Some of the victims are from other countries, said Stephane Ganzer, head of security for the Valais canton. Authorities said 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances had been mobilised.

Police had earlier said many people were being treated for burns. Most of those injured were in a serious condition, said Mathias Reynard, head of the cantonal government. Valais hospital intensive care unit was full and patients being transferred elsewhere, he said.

The area has been completely closed off, and a no-fly zone has been imposed over Crans-Montana, police said in a statement, adding that the cause of the blast remained unclear.

The explosion was being considered a fire and not an attack, prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud said later, adding that authorities were trying to get the bodies of the victims to their families.

As Wednesday turned to Thursday, people around the world said goodbye to a sometimes challenging 2025 and expressed hopes for the New Year to come, Reuters reported.

Midnight arrived first on the islands closest to the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, including Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Tonga and New Zealand.

FIREWORKS LIGHT UP SYDNEY

In Australia, Sydney began 2026 with a spectacular fireworks display, as per tradition. Some 40,000 pyrotechnic effects stretched 7 km (over 4 miles) across buildings and barges in its harbour and featured a waterfall effect from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

This year, it was held under an enhanced police presence, weeks after gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish event in the city.

Organizers held a minute’s silence at 11 p.m. local time for the victims of the attack, with the Harbour Bridge lit up in white and a menorah – a symbol of Judaism – projected onto its pylons.

“After a tragic end to the year for our city, we hope that New Year’s Eve will provide an opportunity to come together and look with hope for a peaceful and happy 2026,” Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore said ahead of the event.

In Seoul, thousands gathered at the Bosingak bell pavilion, where a bronze bell was struck 33 times at midnight – a tradition rooted in Buddhist cosmology, symbolizing the 33 heavens. The chimes are believed to dispel misfortune and welcome peace and prosperity for the year ahead, read the report.

DRUMS AT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

An hour to the west, there were celebrations and a drum performance at the Juyong Pass, at the Great Wall of China just outside Beijing. Revellers wore headgear and waved boards emblazoned with “2026” and the symbol of a horse. February will mark the arrival of the Year of the Horse on the Chinese lunar calendar.

In Hong Kong, the annual New Year’s fireworks display was called off after the apartment complex blaze in November that killed 161 people. Instead, a light show with the theme of ‘New hopes, new beginnings’ transformed facades in the Central district.

In Croatia, celebrations got off to an early start. Since 2000, the town of Fuzine has held its countdown at noon, a tradition that has since spread across the country. Crowds cheered, toasted each other with champagne and danced to music – all in the middle of the day. Some brave souls in Santa hats took a plunge into the icy waters of Lake Bajer.

BRAZIL LOOKS TO BREAK RECORD

On Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro – locals welcomed in the New Year in warmer weather with a music and fireworks party known as “Reveillon.” Organizers were hoping to beat their 2024 Guinness World Record for the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration.

Elsewhere, preparations got under way for the more traditional midnight toast. In subzero temperatures in New York, organizers began putting up security barriers and stages ahead of the crowds that will flock to Times Square for the annual ball drop.

Greece’s ancient Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis had a quiet New Year. The mayor of Athens said silent, environmentally friendly fireworks were used, citing distress caused by loud displays to pets, animals and some people.

In snowy Kyiv and Moscow, both Ukrainians and Russians saw in the New Year, expressing hopes of peace after nearly four years of conflict, Reuters reported.

“I wish for the war to end, I think that this is the main and most important topic for our country,” said a woman in central Moscow who gave her name only as Larisa and said she had traveled from distant Altai Krai to see the Russian capital in the winter holidays with her family.

Many Ukrainians lamented that peace still seemed a distant prospect.

But wrapped up warm and visiting a Christmas tree set up in front of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, nine-year-old Olesia was more optimistic.

“I think there will be peace in the New Year,” she said.

Peace could be achieved in Ukraine within weeks thanks to U.S. security guarantees although success is still “far from 100% certain”, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.

Tusk also hinted at the possibility of U.S. troops being sent to the line of contact between Ukraine and Russia, but he gave no details of such a proposal and the White House did not immediately comment on his remarks, Reuters reported.

Tusk is a fierce critic of Russia over its war in Ukraine, but his comments reflected a positive response by European leaders to talks on Sunday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at which Zelenskiy said agreement was reached on security guarantees for Kyiv.

“Peace is on the horizon, there is no doubt that things have happened that give grounds for hope that this war can end, and quite quickly, but it is still a hope, far from 100% certain,” Tusk told a Polish government meeting after talks with allies.

“When I say peace is on the horizon, I’m talking about the coming weeks, not the coming months or years. By January, we’ll all have to come together… to make decisions about the future of Ukraine, the future of this part of the world.”

Trump said on Sunday that he and Zelenskiy were “maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war although “thorny” territorial issues remained. He was more cautious than Zelenskiy on security guarantees, but said they were 95% of the way to such an agreement and that he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of that effort with U.S. backing.

“The key result of recent days is the American declaration… (of) willingness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine after a peace agreement, including the presence of American troops, for example, on the border or on the line of contact between Ukraine and Russia,” Tusk said.

“We’ll see how consistent our partners across the Atlantic will be, but this gives hope for a successful outcome.”

Russia has said any foreign troop deployment in Ukraine is unacceptable. It also said on Tuesday that its negotiating position will toughen after accusing Kyiv of attacking a Russian presidential residence, an allegation that Kyiv said was baseless and intended to prolong the conflict, read the report.

Tusk underlined the need for movement on territorial issues, with Russia demanding Ukrainian forces pull out of the last part of the Donbas area in eastern Ukraine that they still hold nearly four years after Russia’s invasion. Kyiv wants fighting halted along current front lines.

“Understandably, from his (Zelenskiy’s) perspective, a referendum would be necessary. The Ukrainian people would have to consent to territorial decisions,” Tusk said.

After Tusk spoke, Zelenskiy said Ukraine and the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” group of nations backing Kyiv planned to hold their next meetings early in January, Reuters reported.

Zelenskiy said the countries’ national security advisers would meet in Ukraine on January 3, and then leaders in France on January 6.