Swiss bar managers under investigation for ‘negligent homicide’ after deadly inferno

Geneva: Swiss prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the owners of a bar that was destroyed in a blaze that killed 40 people, as photographs reveal the way flames spread through soundproofing material attached to the ceiling.

Police said the French couple were suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and causing fire by negligence. The major development follows days of rising concern about the way young revellers were trapped in the flames in the early hours of the new year.

The move came after photographs showed bar staff holding bottles of champagne aloft in the crowd with small fireworks attached and setting off sparks, while one video showed some people attempting to douse flames that had spread to the ceiling.

Authorities have confirmed that 119 people were injured in the blaze that spread at about 1.30am on New Year’s Day at the Le Constellation bar in the resort town of Crans-Montana, and that many are in a critical condition with serious burns.

The couple who bought the business in 2015 insisted they have followed the law despite mounting criticism of the way hundreds of young people were packed into the bar and struggled to escape the fire.

“Everything was done according to the regulations,” bar co-owner Jacques Moretti, 49, told the La Tribune de Genève newspaper.

Witnesses have described seeing sparks fly from the “sparklers” attached to champagne bottles, spreading flames to what appeared to be polyurethane acoustic foam that was attached to the ceiling to dampen the sound from the basement bar.

Families continue to wait for news of their missing children because some of the burns are so severe the authorities expect to take several days to identify individuals.

Local officials confirmed on Saturday morning (late on Saturday, AEDT) that four young Swiss citizens were among those dead.

Without giving names, the officials said the dead included two women, aged 21 and 16, and two men, aged 18 and 16.

Mourners continued to gather on Saturday at the street outside Le Constellation, where residents and visitors have laid flowers and officials have updated the media on the investigation.

The Australian government has confirmed that one Australian was injured in the fire, but it has not released the name or location of this individual, nor the scale of the injuries suffered. The government said the person was receiving medical care and that their family was receiving consular assistance.

A Melbourne teenager who stays with family in Crans-Montana and studies at a nearby university, Yaron Lavy, told this masthead he did not know any Australians who were in the bar on the night of the fire.

Swiss police have said the injured included more than 70 Swiss nationals and more than 10 each from France and Italy, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland.

Many of the injured were in their teens to mid-20s, police said. Authorities planned to investigate whether the sound-dampening material on the ceiling complied with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar.

Officials said they would also look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes. The region’s top prosecutor has warned of possible prosecutions if any criminal liability is found.

The Valais region’s top security official, Stephane Ganzer, told SRF public radio on Saturday that “such a huge accident with a fire in Switzerland means that something didn’t work – maybe the material, maybe the organisation on the spot”.

“Something didn’t work, and someone made a mistake, I am sure of that,” he added.

Nicolas Feraud, who heads the Crans-Montana municipality, told RTS radio he was “convinced” checks on the bar had not been lax.

With AP

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