Portugal Colonial - Tears and stunned silence at vigil for Swiss fire victims

Around 40 people died and more than 100 were injured in the blaze that ripped through the crowded Le Constellation bar around 1:30 am (0030 GMT).

The atmosphere among those who came to mourn the tragedy was deathly quiet.

Many of those who stood, motionless, overlooking the scene of the tragedy, knew people who remain unaccounted for, or were badly injured.

People spoke in whispers, if at all. The only sound came from a generator humming by the temporary white tents erected outside the bar.

"I wasn't there myself, but I had many friends and relatives who were," said one young mourner, who gave his surname as Orosstevic.

"Some died, others are in the hospital. About 10," he told AFP.

"They're mostly friends of my parents, but I know them very well."

Orosstevic said he had bought flowers to lay down "as a small tribute".

"May they rest in peace."

- Shock -

Nearby, some groups of friends hugged, sobbing, distraught.

Fathers rested a guiding arm around young sons. Youngsters embraced as they saw friends. People wept, hugged and held hands.

Men stood looking straight ahead with stunned, damp eyes.

"My son could very well have been in there. He wasn't far away," Paul Markins, who has lived in the area for 24 years, told AFP.

"He was with his girlfriend; they were supposed to go in. And in the end, they didn't make it there," he said.

"When he came home, he was really in shock."

A friend of his 17-year-old son has been transferred for treatment in Germany, with his body 30 percent covered in burns.

Mourners laid tributes on a table temporarily put up at the entrance of the road leading down to the bar, which was blocked from view by white screens.

Two police officers stood guard at the cordon.

A steady stream of people brought candles and flowers; sometimes a single rose, sometimes a large bunch.

As the table filled, people began to place individual candles on the frozen ground.

Several groups of young men looked utterly inconsolable. They held one and other and looked in their eyes, grasping for words.

Some of those gathered could barely voice their emotions.

A couple of young women stood for a long time holding a bunch of flowers, mustering the courage to venture through the crowd towards the table.

"There are dead and injured, and we have someone close to us who is still missing. We have no news of them," said one of the women, who did not want to be identified.

After laying their flowers, they walked away, arm in arm.

"They were young people, and people we know," said another woman, who declined to give her name.

Asked whether she knew what happened to them, she said: "Some, no. Some, we're still waiting."

- Pain -

The Christmas lights are still twinkling in the town, but several bars closed their doors out of respect.

Earlier, at the Montana-Station church, a mass remembered those who had lost their lives.

Sombre organ music played. People gathered outside afterwards collecting their thoughts, some walking away with tears streaming from their eyes.

"There was a lot of people, it was very solemn, and there was a beautiful sermon about hope. At least let us have that: hope," said local churchgoer Jean-Claude.

One young man, who could barely speak due to the emotion, said: "We just knew a lot of friends of friends who were there. And we pay them respect."

"It could have been my son, quite simply," said one mourner, Mina, welling up with tears.

"Last night, it was just a coincidence that he wasn't there," she told AFP.

"There is a waitress he knows, she serves him all the time, he's very friendly with her and unfortunately, she's gone."

Veronica, an elderly Italian mourner, who has lived in Crans-Montana for 40 years, wiped a stream of tears from her cheeks.

She said: "The pain of others is everyone's pain."

V.Dantas--PC