Charlotte Nidam Found: Last Missing Israeli Teen Identified in Swiss Ski Tragedy

The painful process of identifying the victims of the New Year’s Eve inferno at the "La Constellation" bar in Crans-Montana has reached a significant milestone. On Sunday, officials confirmed the deaths of three young women who had been listed as missing since the disaster. Among the deceased is 15 year old Charlotte Needham, a dual French British citizen who held Israeli citizenship. The bodies of two Jewish sisters, Alice and Diana Gunst, aged 14 and 15, were also positively identified. With these confirmations, the ZAKA International Division announced that the search for missing Jewish and Israeli individuals at the site has been completed.

Charlotte Needham had been living in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and attended the Immanuel College private Jewish school before her family recently moved back to France. She had been staying in the Crans-Montana area for the holiday season, where she was working as a babysitter. Her school community had previously gathered in prayer, hoping for a miracle that never came. "Charlotte was a student at Immanuel College, and her family has now returned to France," the school stated during the search, asking for thoughts and prayers during such an unimaginably difficult time.

The Israeli Ambassador to Switzerland, Tibo Shalev Schlosser, visited the scene of the tragedy on Sunday to pay his respects. After receiving a briefing from Baruch Niedam, the commander of the ZAKA international team, the Ambassador laid a wreath of flowers for the 40 victims. He praised the volunteers for their tireless work in the charred ruins, calling them "ambassadors of kindness for the State of Israel throughout the world." Niedam described the scene as "extremely difficult and complex," noting that many of the volunteers are highly trained in identifying remains following high intensity fires.

The disaster, which claimed the lives of approximately 40 people and injured 115 others, has deeply impacted teenagers and young adults from across Europe. So far, the identified victims include young people from Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Witnesses maintain that the blaze was sparked within seconds when a waiter, standing on the shoulders of a colleague, raised a champagne bottle with a lit firework too close to the wooden ceiling. As the forensic teams continue their work, ZAKA International has pledged to remain on site at the request of Swiss authorities to ensure that every victim is treated with the utmost dignity and respect before being returned to their families.