Teen survivor of Swiss bar blaze ran BACK into flames to save victims but found one so burned he could ‘only see teeth’
He fought through the surging flames and made for a narrow staircase before scrambling to safety
A TEEN survivor of the tragic Swiss bar blaze has revealed how he ran back inside to save trapped victims of the massacre that killed 40 people.
Student Ferdinand Du Beaudiez, 19, was partying with seven pals – including his brother and girlfriend – inside Le Constellation when it went up in flames in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana.
As the fire tore through the venue, Ferdinand fought through the surging flames and made for a narrow staircase before scrambling to safety.
The teen, who was holidaying with family in the Alps, told The Sun: “I took my girlfriend’s arm, and I screamed to everyone, ‘get out’.
“There were so many people on the stairs trying to get out that I lost her arm. I reached the top of the stairs but fell to the ground.”
But Ferdinand refused to leave his friends and brother to perish inside and ran back in to find them.
He added: “I was looking for my brother, my girlfriend and my friends. And I couldn’t think to let them stay in the fire when I was alive outside.
“My first reflex was to cover my face with my arms and I closed my eyes. At that moment, I suppose someone opened the front door.
“The cold air rushed inside which gave the fire oxygen and it turned into a fireball. I felt it over my head and it slightly burned my neck.
” I couldn’t breathe anymore. So, in a last hope, I took the foot of the table and pulled myself out.”
“I went back inside and I found someone lying on the stairs.
“They were completely burned.”
Ferdinand said that the body was so charred he could only see their teeth.
The teen said: “I couldn’t recognise whether it was a woman or a man. I could only see teeth.
“I grabbed them but they were really heavy – like a dead weight. Even their clothes were burned.
“I took their arms and pulled them along the ground and outside. I went back a second time, but there was more smoke, and I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see anything.”
Ferdinand was escorted to a makeshift triage centre in a nearby sports centre, where medics arrived to treat the wounded.
They were handed foil blankets and gel masks for their burns amid a major emergency.
Ferdinand said: “With time more and more people arrived, more and more burned.
“At this point firemen and medics were given categories. I was in the green category. There was also yellow and then red and I suppose black, but black had already been taken to the hospitals.”
Ferdinand’s brother was eventually rescued and is now among 115 people who were taken to the hospital.
He is in a coma but is expected to pull through. As many as 60 of them are in a critical condition.
Police commander Frédéric Gisler confirmed the fire “started in the basement of the bar” and there was a crush as people desperately tried to get out via the single staircase.
Terrified New Year’s Eve revellers were “screaming and running” for their lives, as the inferno scorched the venue, burning alive many people trapped inside.
Swiss cops set to launch criminal probe into deadly blaze.
Survivors, some as young as 15, have been taken to hospitals across Switzerland and abroad to France, Germany and Belgium.
It comes as the first victim of the tragedy has been identified as an Italian teen golfer, Emanuele Galeppini.
The Italian Golf Federation announced the death of 16-year-old Galeppini, saying it mourned the death of a “young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values”.
Families are now facing an “unbearable” wait for victims to be identified after officials said the process will “take time” – and potentially last several days.
A despairing mother was looking for her teenage son and nine school friends who were still missing.
Laetitia Brodard said she had not seen Arthur Brodard, 16, since the tragic night.
She said: “He was looking forward to celebrating New Year’s Eve with his school friends at the resort and in this bar.
“They had made plans and reserved a table in advance. Of the 11 people at that table, only one has been found, and all the others are missing.”
Experts are using dental and DNA records to try identify the deceased, but the severity of the burns is delaying identification, a European official has said.
