Hero banker pulled teenagers out of Swiss club fire ‘with his bare hands’

A hero banker managed to pull 10 people from the Swiss nightclub fire ‘with his bare hands’ after his daughter rang him pleading for help.

Paolo Campolo raced from his home to Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve and was able to prise open a door.

Some 10 youngsters trapped inside were able to flee from the building through the door, while at least 40 people were killed and a further 119 injured.

The 55-year-old’s daughter had rang him crying, saying her boyfriend and his friends were trapped inside.

The main exit was crammed by people trying to flee, but Mr Campolo, a senior financial analyst, was able to find a door to the side and forced it open.

He told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero: ‘There were several bodies all around. Alive but burnt. Some conscious, others not.

TOPSHOT - A grab of a video obtained from the X account of @Tyroneking36852 shows a fire in a bar in Crans-Montana, a ski resort in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, early on January 1, 2026. The footage was filmed by a tourist from New York who told AFP that he saw people running and screaming from the party venue. Several dozen people are presumed dead and around 100 injured after a fire ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, Swiss police said on January 1, 2026. Police, firefighters and rescuers rushed to the popular resort, which is set to host the Ski World Cup from January 30, after the fire broke out in the early hours of New Year's Day. (Photo by @Tyroneking36852 / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE MANDATORY CREDIT ?? AFP PHOTO / X / @Tyroneking36852?? - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS [- NO ARCHIVE ] — Some 10 youngsters trapped inside were able to flee from the building through the door
(Picture: AFP)

‘They were begging for help in several languages. They were very young.’

He worked with another man to pull open the door, and could could see ‘hands and faces’ behind the screen.

As soon as it opened, a number of people immediately spilled out. Many of those inside were teenagers.

Mr Campolo said: ‘I didn’t think about the pain, the smoke, the danger. I pulled kids out with my bare hands. One after the other. They were alive but injured, many of them seriously.’

The inferno happened because of champagne sparklers.Thus began the bar inferno: sparks from champagne sparklers ignited acoustic panels.https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/westschweiz/wallis/silvester-tragoedie-feuer-tragoedie-in-crans-montana-vs-fordert-tote-und-schwerverletzte-id21561097.htmlBodyWords: 656A SPARKLER in a champagne bottle is believed to have caused a Swiss ski bar inferno that killed at least 47 revellers yesterday. Families face an agonising wait to find out whether loved ones died in the early hours at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, south-west Switzerland. — It is believed the fire was caused by champagne sparklers (Picture: UNKNOWN)

Mourners gather near the bar Le Constellation where a fire ripped through the venue during New Year's celebrations in the Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana killing around 40 people and injuring more than 100 others, in Crans-Montana on January 2, 2026. Investigators raced on January 2, 2026 to identify the victims of a fire that ripped through a bar in the Swiss Alps town of Crans-Montana, turning a New Year's celebration into one of the country's worst tragedies. Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, told reporters that authorities had counted "around 40 people who have died and around 115 injured, most of them seriously". (Photo by MAXIME SCHMID / AFP via Getty Images) — Mourners gather near the bar Le Constellation (Picture: AFP)

He said he will always remember ‘the lucid desperation of those who know they’re dying’.

The dad added: ‘Burned people looking at you and asking you not to leave them there. It’s something that never goes away.’

Mr Campolo is now recovering in hospital in Sion for smoke inhalation, while his daughter’s boyfriend is fighting for his life in a hospital in Basel.