A propane explosion occurred at around 11:00 p.m. in a high-altitude restaurant that was closed for the night. The owner of the restaurant found his restaurant damaged and gas leaking when he arrived at around 9:00 a.m. He alerted the appropriate emergency services, which put up a safety cordon and forced the closure of two ski lifts for 2 hours. The fire-fighters isolated the restaurant’s gas line from the 1.8 m³ underground LPG tank and stopped a leak on the tank’s pressure-reducing valve. The fire-fighters left at around 12:00 p.m. The mayor ordered the restaurant’s closure, which resulted in six workers being temporarily laid off.

The leak was caused by the failure of a nut attaching the restaurant’s supply line to the storage tank. The leak was difficult to find due to snow on the ground and the cover of the underground tank. The fitter had failed to make a connection loop on the pipe to absorb compression on the connection between the tank and the pipe. According to the propane supplier, the gas seeped into the ground and into the restaurant’s cellar. It then spread throughout the building and exploded when the compressor in the refrigerator turned on.