More than 40 people were killed and over 100 injured in a devastating New Year’s Eve fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Authorities say the toll could have been even higher without the heroic actions of Paolo Campolo, who saved nearly a dozen teenagers.
Campolo was hosting a New Year’s Eve gathering at his home when he saw flames coming from the nearby bar Le Constellation, just 200 feet away. Moments later, his 17-year-old daughter called him in panic, warning of a deadly fire.
Without hesitation, Campolo ran to the scene with a fire extinguisher. Finding the bar filled with thick black smoke and people trapped inside, he and another man broke a rear window and pulled teenagers to safety before emergency crews arrived.
Campolo was later hospitalized for smoke poisoning but survived after rescuing ten people. His daughter also survived, while his fiancée was seriously injured and remains hospitalized in Basel.