Swiss bar fire was like 'hell': Survivors recount ski resort blaze

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Ringing in the new year with a night of drinking and dancing high in the Swiss Alps, Ebenezer Mehari, 17, decided to take a breather outside the packed Constellation Bar

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Ringing in the new year with a night of drinking and dancing high in the Swiss Alps, Ebenezer Mehari, 17, decided to take a breather outside the packed Constellation Bar.

As he turned to go back inside, he told NBC News at the scene Friday, “hell” erupted as a deadly fire broke out. “I heard a big boom, and everybody was screaming,” he said.

Mehari said a thick smoke enveloped the venue and the crowd, blinding him. He fell to the ground as people rushed to escape the bar, he said, but a man pulled him away to safety.

His friends were not so lucky, he says. “I have four friends who died,” he said, still struggling to process the loss. “For me, it’s not real.”

Ebenezer Mehari.Daniele Hamamdjian / NBC NewsMehari, who has lived in the area for 15 years, said he saw someone he knew from school disfigured and burning, and others whose hair and clothes had burned off.