Owners of Le Constellation bar Jacques Moretti (left) and Jessica Moretti. Forty people, most of them teenagers, were killed, while 116 were injured in a fire that ripped through the bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve. Photo / Fabrice Coffrini, AFP
Owners of Le Constellation bar Jacques Moretti (left) and Jessica Moretti. Forty people, most of them teenagers, were killed, while 116 were injured in a fire that ripped through the bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve. Photo / Fabrice Coffrini, AFP
One of the owners of the Swiss bar that was engulfed in a deadly fire on New Year’s Eve has been arrested after being deemed a potential flight risk.
Jacques Moretti was summoned for questioning by Swiss investigators on Friday (local time) amid growing calls for those responsible for theblaze, which killed 40 people, to be held to account.
Prosecutors have been investigating Moretti and his wife and co-owner Jessica on charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
Jessica Moretti was allowed to walk free pending an investigation into allegations that the pair flouted security regulations at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana.
The 40 victims included people from 19 different nationalities, with half of them being minors. Another 116 party-goers were injured in the blaze and 83 people are still in hospital.
The Morettis were questioned on Friday by the public prosecutor in Sion.
Fire catching the ceiling of the Le Constellation bar at a Swiss ski resort as people celebrate below.
Prosecutors believe the fire started when champagne bottles with sparklers were raised too close to sound insulation foam in the ceiling of the bar’s basement.
The conflagration then left customers trapped, mainly teenagers and young adults.
Speaking to reporters after being questioned on Friday, Jessica Moretti apologised for the fire.
“My constant thoughts are with the victims and the people who are fighting today. It is an unimaginable tragedy.
“We could never, ever have imagined this. It happened in our establishment and I would like to apologise.”
The investigation will focus on maintenance carried out by the French couple since 2015, the materials used, access to the emergency exits, fire-fighting equipment and compliance with fire safety standards, particularly the installation of the ceiling foam.
On Tuesday, the municipality of Crans-Montana acknowledged that no safety or fire inspections had been carried out at the bar since 2019.
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister, said on Friday that the fire was “not a tragedy” but rather, the result of people “not doing their job” or chasing “easy money”.
“And those responsible must be identified and prosecuted,” she told journalists at a press conference in Rome.
Meloni attended a mass for the fire’s Italian victims at a church in Rome on Friday after Emmanuel Macron, the French President, took part in a memorial in Martigny, Switzerland.
Meloni said she was struck by the fact that some of the young people remained in the basement and music continued to play even after the flames broke out.
“Why wasn’t it stopped? Why weren’t these kids told to leave? Why didn’t the municipality carry out checks?” she added, referring to the lack of fire safety inspections at the bar.
Among the victims were Charlotte Niddam, a 15-year-old girl who was a pupil at Immanuel College, a private school near Watford.
Benjamin Johnson, 18, a young boxer who died trying to save his friend from the fire, was also among the victims identified last week.
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