Waitress ‘who accidentally started Swiss bar fire’ was killed in blaze

Fire catching the ceiling of the Le Constellation bar at a Swiss ski resort as people celebrate below.

A waitress who carried the sparklers that allegedly started the fatal Swiss bar fire was among those who died in the blaze, it has emerged.

Cyane Panine was one of 40 people who died in the New Year’s Eve tragedy. She has been identified as the woman seen in images wearing a crash helmet and carrying sparklers moments before the accidental blaze erupted.

Footage from the night showed a young woman sitting on one of her colleague’s shoulders, brandishing two champagne bottles with sparklers attached. The ceiling then caught fire.

The owners of Le Constellation in Crans-Montana revealed last week how they viewed Panine as a “stepdaughter” and said she suffocated “in a pile of bodies behind a locked door”.

The owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, were able to identify the 24-year-old during photos taken during the blaze, according to local media.

They said Panine’s last moments alive reflected the nature of the tragedy.

Moretti had asked her employee to “get the atmosphere going” at the bar, located in an Alpine ski resort, in the early hours of January 1, according to her interview with Swiss investigators.

Waitresses put sparklers in champagne bottles, with some lifted up on to the shoulders of waiters, who then paraded their colleagues around the room.

The pyrotechnics lit the soundproofing foam in the ceiling, sparking the blaze which killed dozens and injured 116 others.

Moretti, 49, said he broke open the door to the basement from the outside, where he found Panine dying, surrounded by a “pile of bodies”.

He told the Valais public prosecutor’s office he only realised that the bar’s “service door” was “locked from the inside and on a latch” after the blaze.

Moretti is in custody, while his wife was bailed with an electronic tag. They are awaiting a possible trial on a number of charges including manslaughter and causing bodily harm by negligence.

He said that Panine was the girlfriend of a close family friend, who he and his wife “raised as if he were my own”.

Moretti added: “I went out onto the patio [behind the bar]. All the windows were open.

“There were a lot of people there. I tried to get inside but it was impossible. There was far too much smoke.”

Speaking about how the bar’s “service door” was shut, he said: “We forced it open – it finally gave way in a few seconds. When the door opened, several people were lying on the floor, unconscious.

“My stepdaughter Cyane was one of them. We pulled them all outside and put them in the recovery position.”

Moretti said he and Panine’s boyfriend “tried to resuscitate her for more than an hour in the street near the bar, until the emergency services told us it was too late”.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, a lawyer for Panine’s family, Sophie Haenni, declined to confirm that she was the staff member in the crash helmet.

“Based on the current state of the case, I cannot confirm that. The investigation will prove it,” she said.

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