This article contains details some readers may find distressing.

Most of the victims of the fire in Crans-Montana are thought to be young people, but identification of the bodies is expected to take several days at least.

The fire broke out at roughly 1.30am local time in the Constellation Bar as people celebrated the turn of the year.

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Emergency services were on the scene minutes later, but it was already too late to save dozens of people, thought to have been trapped in the basement.

Authorities warned that naming the victims or establishing a definitive death toll would take time due to the severity of the burns. Experts have been using dental and DNA records to try to identify the dead.

Switzerland's President Guy Parmelin described the deadly incident as "one of the worst tragedies our country has ever known", and King Charles called it a "horrific disaster".

The country will hold five days of mourning.

The cause of the blaze remains unclear, but witnesses reported seeing sparklers or candles in bottles in the basement bar.

But Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the charred wreckage of the bar.

'Horror movie' scenes of people with hair burned off

Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion as youngsters scrambled to escape the blaze.

Samuel Rapp, who had been at a restaurant nearby, said he saw "a lot of people at the entry trying to escape. And it was full and people [were] walking on everybody trying to escape."

He saw many "screaming, trying to escape" and others "on the floor".

Mr Rapp told Sky News he saw "a lot of people" whose hair had been burned off, and others "without clothes".

Video from inside the bar shows a fire breaking out and rapidly engulfing the ceiling, spreading panic through the partygoers, who rushed towards the stairs to escape.

Later footage from outside showed lines of ambulances queuing and helicopters arriving to airlift victims to nearby hospitals.

Leon Christe, who works in the resort, told Sky News he was one of the first to the scene and tried to help by administering first aid.

He said: "It was very chaotic and very sad. Everywhere, there were young people who needed help, some had their clothes burned off.

"It was very traumatising."

Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some severely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene to find out what had happened to their children.

The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames, and likened what he saw from across the street to scenes from a horror movie.

Vigil for victims, with many details unknown

On New Year's Day, people gathered to lay flowers and light candles at a memorial near the site.

Little information has yet emerged about the victims, and hospitals and emergency services are reeling from the accident.

Some are being treated in the local hospital, while others were taken further afield, including to the University Hospital of Lausanne, which treats severe burns, and to France.

France said at least three nationals had been injured and eight were still missing.

Italian officials said 13 citizens had been injured, and another six are still unaccounted for, although details are still unfolding.

Yellow alerts are in place in other areas, as people face a wintry start to 2026.

Amber warnings for heavy snow showers in parts of Scotland have been issued by the Met Office.

They are in place from midday on Friday to midday on Saturday.

Snow could bring disruption to parts of northern Scotland. The areas covered in the amber warnings include Angus, Perth and Kinross, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, and the Highlands.

Around 10-20cm of snow is likely at low levels, with 30-40cm possible on high ground, while winds could lead to temporary blizzard conditions, according to the Met Office.

It added that some delays and cancellations to rail and air travel are likely, as are power cuts and disruption on the roads, while some rural communities may be cut off.

Meanwhile, there is a yellow warning for snow and ice on Friday across large parts of England and Wales, including Chester and Greater Manchester down to London and Kent.

The warning lasts from midnight to noon.

Snow up to 5cm could cover some areas, especially on higher ground in parts of North Wales and northwest England.

Separate yellow warnings are in place for Northern Ireland between midnight and 10am on Friday.

Weather warnings were already in force on New Year's Day in Scotland, with a yellow warning of snow and ice covering the northern part of the nation.

The Met Office said 10cm of snow could have accumulated by Friday morning, while up to 20cm could build up above 200 metres.

The warning is in force until midnight on Friday and at the weekend it extends further south, covering the area down to Perth and southerly parts of Argyll and Bute until midnight on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued health warnings for the start of the year.

It previously issued amber cold health alerts in the North East and North West of England.

However, yellow alerts have been upgraded to amber across the East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West, East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London.

These warnings are in place until 10am on 6 January.

The UKHSA said it means the weather is "likely" to cause significant impacts across health and social care services, including a "rise in deaths" among those with health conditions or aged 65 or over.

Warning: This article contains details you might find distressing

Research carried out and shared by the charity Dignify shows that the age of children seeing sexual content on the internet is getting younger.

The organisation, which works to protect children and young people from the harmful effects of pornography, said children "can't unsee what they've seen".

The average age of children seeing pornography is 12, according to Dignify.

Nicola Lee, from the charity, told Sky News that when delving "deeper" into their data, they have discovered that some children who first viewed pornography aged five and under are also "reporting addiction to pornography".

"So it wasn't just a case of they saw it at that age," Nicola added, "it actually has developed with them into their older years, and they're now telling us that they have an addiction."

One young woman, Shaniah Williams, told Sky News she first saw pornography at just seven years old, after being "exposed to harmful sexual behaviour" when she was six, which prompted "a curiosity" to search online for answers.

She described content being available to her on "certain platforms", and by the age of eight, she was watching extreme pornography.

By 12 years old, she said she was addicted: "I didn't understand why I was so low. Consuming more of this material kind of kept me sane… but the thoughts wouldn't stop every minute of every day. I just wanted it to stop."

'I didn't know humans looked like that'

Despite having restrictions on devices, Shaniah said the material she saw as a child left her terrified and confused, and she subsequently suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts.

"I could look at the kids in the playground and tell you which one had been exposed to it, just due to their language," she explained.

"I used to wish I could be like the girls who hadn't. I was in the dark, in a prison of my own making."

Shaniah is appealing to parents to start conversations with their children.

"It was scary. I didn't know human beings looked like that," she said. "I'm a child, I've not seen that. I thought someone was killing the other person. I thought it was torture."

"It took my childhood," she added, "it's gone. I'm not getting it back. But it doesn't mean other children can't have that. So I beg of you, parents - please. For their sake."

Children find pornography 'unintentionally'

According to Dignify's research, most children find pornography online "unintentionally", for example sent in a group chat, found through a link from another platform, or shared by a stranger.

"We do have children and young people who are seeing pornography," Nicola said.

She added: "A third of those who have seen pornography have seen it in primary school. It's scary, it's really scary as a parent to think, wow, my child might have seen pornography.

"But they may not have. So that curiosity, we don't want to spark it."

Dignify are also encouraging parents to think about "age and developmentally appropriate" conversations around the issue - and have developed a "roadmap" guide to follow.

In the early years, they advise talking about screen use and safety, and where screen use is happening to experience it as a "shared moment", such as playing games together.

As well as parental controls and privacy settings on devices, Nicola also recommends being in the same room if a child is going to be by themselves on a screen to "understand what they're looking at".

'Exposed within months at secondary school'

The problem, however, is also seemingly widespread in schools.

Flossie, 17, told Sky News she was overwhelmed by the volume and extremity of content circulating among pupils in her secondary school.

"Within the first three months, I was exposed to literally everything on social media - hardcore pornography, violent videos," she said.

One clip that went viral in her school showed a woman being beheaded. Another involved bestiality.

She said she had no choice in seeing it. "I got off the bus one day, and it was shoved in my face. I was 12. I had to go home from school because it was so disturbing."

Flossie is now part of a legal challenge calling for smartphones to be banned in UK schools, arguing that children cannot be protected while devices remain in classrooms, playgrounds, or even on the school bus.

"It's the kids doing this to each other. And the only way it's going to stop is if they take the phones away. It takes one child in a whole school," she said.

'Year 7 pupils will see things they can never unsee'

Will Orr‑Ewing, who is also involved in the challenge, said more than 250 headteachers support a potential judicial review of government guidance.

"If the secretary of state wanted to, it doesn't require any primary legislation. She can update the guidance, and it could be solved tomorrow," he said.

He warned that every new school year brings another wave of children at risk: "Every September is a new Year 7 and a large percentage of those children are going to see things they can never unsee."

Mr Orr-Ewing explained that while most parents support restrictions, a "vocal minority" believe smartphones keep children safe - something he called "a myth".

"The evidence is that the vast majority of harms come through the smartphone. Parents think they're keeping their kids safe, but they are sadly making them more in danger by giving them a smartphone," he said.

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A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We support headteachers to take the necessary steps to prevent disruption, backed by our clear guidance. Research from the Children's Commissioner shows 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools already have policies in place restricting the use of mobile phones.

"Through the Online Safety Act, we have taken some of the boldest steps anywhere in the world to ensure children have age-appropriate experiences online, protecting them from harmful content.

"We are striking the right balance: protecting children while ensuring they can safely benefit from the digital world, without risking isolation or cutting off access to vital services, especially to the most vulnerable."

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, help and support is available.

You can call Samaritans free on 116 123 anytime day or night. You can also email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find support online.

The 56-year-old says her prayers were answered after she lost twin boys, and years later, went on to have a healthy baby, called Leo.

"After the death of the twins, I wasn't sure how my life was going to pan out, and when the diagnosis and prognosis was given for Leo that he might not survive, and the pregnancy was going to be difficult, I didn't know for sure that God was going to perform a miracle," she recalls.

"But my faith held on, and I just pressed into that bit of faith I had and kept praying, kept believing, kept speaking to Leo's spirit in the womb."

As we chat, we can hear the constant hum of traffic, a short way from this green patch of land, sandwiched between the M6 and M42 motorways near Coleshill.

The site has been chosen to host a huge new national Christian monument, and Juliet's story will form part of it.

Called Eternal Wall Of Answered Prayer, the white concrete structure will reach the height of 12 double-decker buses and be made up of a million bricks, making it the UK's largest Christian monument.

"You'll be able to point your phone at any one of the bricks and your phone will light up, and then it will tell you the story of hope that lies within each one," the founder of the project, Richard Gamble, explains as he shows me a prototype of what it will look like.

The idea came to him in a flash, he says, as he happened to be dragging a cross around Leicestershire at Easter time in 2004.

He later left his job as a chaplain at Leicester City Football Club to make his dream a reality.

"What we want to communicate to the nation is that Jesus is alive, he's still active, he's still listening, and he still answers our prayers," he says.

"We live in a narrative that we are living in a secular society, but the reality is most people are praying at some points in their life, particularly in the storms of life, and we want to tell them in those moments that there is hope for them."

Due to its busy location, which is also close to the HS2 rail line, Richard thinks it will be seen by 800,000 people every day.

A private benefactor has donated the land and is covering most of the £40m cost, but Richard and his team are fundraising to cover the finishing touches for the project, like the visitor centre, car parking, and landscaping.

They are appealing for people to come forward with their answered prayers - they have had 125,000 so far.

It's the job of Michelle Heritage to vet and collate them all.

"People send in answered prayers about situations where they've been praying for their marriage, praying to have a child, maybe they've been in a conflict zone, and they're praying for protection, people have been praying for healing, for guidance," she says.

"It's just so interesting to see how God answers. Sometimes it's a yes, sometimes it takes years for people's prayers to be answered, sometimes it's a no, and God has journeyed with them and given them peace and strength in really difficult situations."

Construction is under way, and it is hoped the landmark will be completed in 2028.

For a prime minister who made "smashing the gangs" such a central pledge during the general election campaign, the numbers are politically toxic.

Although, frankly, given the trajectory of the statistics in the first part of the year, the situation could have been even worse - with the figures tracking largely above the record number of migrant arrivals in 2022 until bad weather hit in the late autumn.

But after 18 months in power, Sir Keir Starmer's entering another year without making any real progress on an issue which is hugely important to many voters.

This seeming impotence - from successive governments - to stop the small boats and close asylum hotels has certainly fuelled the rapid rise in support for Reform UK.

Not surprisingly, Nigel Farage has leapt on today's data to claim "smash the gangs is a complete disaster. One in, one out is a farce and the numbers have been huge."

In a recent hardening of mainstream policy positioning, both Reform UK and the Conservatives now argue that anyone who arrived in the country illegally should be barred from claiming asylum - and that the UK needs to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deliver that, and increase the number of deportations.

"Small boat crossings are the inevitable product of a system that guarantees entry and obstructs removal," said shadow home secretary Chris Philp.

"As long as the ECHR sits at the centre of our asylum system, illegal immigration is effectively hardwired in."

Tough talk, but will action follow?

As we saw with the PM's New Year's message on the economy, his approach has been to argue he understands people's anger - but to insist that new policies only just coming to fruition will soon start to make a big difference.

The Home Office said in a statement: "The number of small boat crossings are shameful, and the British people deserve better. This government is taking action."

It's certainly true that many of the catalogue of measures announced by ministers have only just come into force - or are yet to do so.

The borders bill, finally passed in December, gives the police new counter-terror-style powers to try to tackle the gangs.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's Danish-inspired asylum reforms, announced in November, aim to make the asylum system less generous - and therefore less of an incentive to migrants.

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She wants to deter people from coming to the UK with plans to make refugee status temporary, not permanent, to restrict asylum seekers' benefits, and to require 20 years' residency before granting permanent settlement.

The plans also seek to make deportations easier.

Rather than leaving the ECHR, the government is working with other European countries to try to reform it from within.

The one in one out deal with France began over the summer, and sees the UK sending back small boat migrants back across the Channel in exchange for people already in the French system.

Thus far it's been small scale - with fewer than 200 people deported, and several attempting to get back to the UK even after being returned.

And while ministers regularly celebrate the fruits of closer working with their European partners - a long-awaited French promise to allow the police to intervene to stop the boats in the water looks to be on ice once again, with unions reportedly resisting the order over health and safety concerns.

Voters are ready to punish Starmer

After so many false promises and failed schemes - the most notorious of which, the Rwanda plan, cost £700 million and deported just four volunteers - it's not surprising the British electorate are sceptical about government policies in this area.

Sir Keir and Shabana Mahmood are hoping their multi-faceted, internationally collaborative approach will finally start to pay dividends in the new year.

Frustrated voters expect resolutions - and they're prepared to punish politicians who don't deliver on their promises.