“I HAVE TO LEARN TO WALK”: Poignant confession of a young man from Novi Pazar (19) who survived the fire in a Swiss club!

Meldin Mehmedović (19) from Novi Pazar, one of those injured in the fire that broke out on New Year’s Eve in a bar at the Crans-Montana ski resort in Switzerland, described how he fought for his life while the fire consumed everything in its path.

The investigation so far has determined that the fire in the “Le Constellation” bar on New Year’s Eve most likely occurred after the ceiling caught fire when pyrotechnics, specifically sparklers on bottles, ignited that part of the bar.

The fire spread with lightning speed and claimed 40 lives. Among the victims is a citizen of Serbia, and the youngest victim was only 14 years old.

Meldin says that on the fateful evening, the atmosphere in the bar was excellent, that everyone was celebrating, dancing, and singing.

“I arrived at the bar, otherwise, somewhere around half an hour after midnight with my best friend Teo. I think most of the guests didn’t even see the moment when the fire started. At one point, I saw that the entire ceiling was in flames. Everyone started to flee in panic toward the stairs, where the exit was. You couldn’t even stand on the stairs; they were overcrowded. Everyone was running…” Mehmedović describes the terrifying moments to Canal 9 and adds that he got the impression that the guests who were in the part of the bar where he was did not see that the fire had broken out in time.

The young man, who that evening only wanted to have a good time with his friend, witnessed horrific scenes from which he still hasn’t had a peaceful night’s sleep.

“People were trampling each other! They were pulling and pushing, grabbing onto each other and literally looking for a straw of salvation, just to leave the establishment alive. There was great panic. My friend Teo was in front of me; I was pushing him so we could get out, so we could come out alive. Thank God, he is alive,” described the man from Novi Pazar.

He says that in the smoke and chaos, it was impossible to see anything.

“We didn’t see where we were stepping. I felt the heat, the flame reaching me. My ankle is burning. Someone pulled my shoe off in that crowd, and I was left without a shoe. I was barefoot. I just wanted to get out. I had to climb over people because I thought I was going to die,” the young man testifies.

❗️⚠️🇨🇭 – Footage capturing the moment a deadly fire broke out at a bar in Switzerland has circulated on social media.

Reports suggest the blaze may have been ignited by sparklers attached to champagne bottles during New Year's celebrations.

Video shows patrons desperately… pic.twitter.com/BdwTXvjkCo
— 🔥🗞The Informant (@theinformant_x) January 2, 2026

A moment of horror followed after he went outside and saw that the entire establishment was in flames.

“While I was going out, I just followed where the entrance door was; that was a kind of landmark for me. However, in front of the bar doors, it was hell; people were jumping over each other, falling like dominoes. I also saw people who came out in flames, burned,” he said and added that he could not find his friend Teo, reports Kurir.

“I thought he had gone outside and that he might be in the bar across the street. And I was afraid that if he wasn’t there, I would never see him again. However, I saw him and he was conscious but completely burned. I thought, he is burned, but he will be fine, he is conscious. His hair was burned, but I thought, who cares about hair as long as he is alive,” says the surviving young man.

Meldin Mehmedović gathered his strength and showed the camera the jacket and jeans he wore on New Year’s Eve. He saved the things in a bag and put them in the basement.

“These are the jeans I wore, and this is burned skin… I don’t even know whose it is. That skin stuck to my jeans during the frantic exit outside. Actually, it was all over the jeans, but my mother removed it,” the young man says in a poignant voice while turning the jeans and then taking a black jacket out of a gray bag.

“The jacket is mostly burned. While I was fleeing from the bar, I thought: ‘This jacket will either stick to my skin or it will protect me!’ Now I know, if I hadn’t had it, I would have burned,” says Meldin, showing the destroyed jacket.

As he gathers the strength to continue, he states that this is a huge tragedy that he survived, but he doesn’t even know how. The surviving young man originally from Serbia then took his mobile phone and called his best friend Teo, who answered him on a video call from his hospital bed. After greetings, Teo said that the fire affected 30 percent of his body and that his hands were completely destroyed and burned.

“I have to learn to walk… I have no more strength and I will have to forget about my job, considering that my hands are in very bad condition. Namely, I work in mechanics and I need my hands every day. And according to the doctors, for at least the next year, I must not get my hands dirty or infect them. In the summer, I can’t be in the sun; I can’t even wear a T-shirt. The sun must not reach the burns at all,” the young man said briefly, showing the bandages on his hands.

Meldin’s friend is feeling better now and hopes that he will soon be transferred from Zurich for rehabilitation to Valais, and then to Sion.