Fire safety precautions were inadequate at a bar in a Swiss ski resort where 40 people died in a blaze while celebrating New Year’s Eve, two former employees have claimed.
They alleged that fire extinguishers at Le Constellation, in Crans-Montana, were kept in a room that was usually locked and the emergency exit was also often locked.
The bar’s owners, Jacques Moretti, 49, and his wife, Jessica, 40, are being investigated on suspicion of negligence causing homicide, bodily harm and arson, the Valais cantonal prosecutor’s office said.
Mr Moretti has denied the couple did anything wrong and they are not in custody. They risk three years in prison if convicted of the charges or a sentence of up to 20 years if subsequently charged with manslaughter, according to Swiss legal sources.
Jessica and Jacques Moretti on Saturday
MIRRORPIX
All forty victims killed in the fire have been identified, police said on Sunday. The bodies of two Swiss women, aged 21 and 16, and two Swiss men, aged 18 and 16, have been returned to their families. Police said that 21 Swiss people, six Italians, including one person with Italian-Emirati citizenship, one Romanian, nine French people, including a dual Franco-Swiss citizen, and one Franco, Israeli and British citizen, one Romanian, one Portuguese, one Belgian and one from Turkey had been identified.
Two former bar employees, named only as Maxime and Sarah, spoke separately to the French television news channel BFM, one in Crans-Montana and the other from the south of France, but they made similar claims.
Maxime said: “Unlike in other places where I’ve worked, the fire extinguishers were kept in a room that was locked.”
The fire is thought to have been started by “fountain sparklers” attached to champagne bottles and held too close to the ceiling of the basement bar, which was covered with a foam-like, sound-dampening material. Survivors said it went up in flames within seconds.
The moment flames ignited on the ceiling and, below, the fire spreading
• The backdraft and the bartender: what happened in ski resort blaze?
Survivors described horrific scenes in which revellers were crushed underfoot in a stampede to reach the main exit via a narrow stairway.
Maxime told BFM: “I always said that if waitresses held up sparklers and they came into contact [with the ceiling], everything could go up in flames. There was definitely a risk and the safety measures were a bit dicey … staff weren’t briefed on fire safety and the emergency exit was sometimes blocked or locked.”
A former waitress at Le Constellation, named only as Sarah, said: “We had no training on fire safety. I only saw fire extinguishers in an office … but it was often locked. The emergency exit was kept locked … [and] I wasn’t aware that there was a fire alarm.
“When I stayed in an apartment above the bar, I had to get a key to open the door of the emergency exit to go upstairs … We were ordered not to unlock the emergency exit except to go upstairs to the apartment.
“The stairway [from the basement to the main exit] was very narrow and you couldn’t get 200 people out in ten minutes … There had been building work and everything was made of wood [in the basement] so putting sparklers in champagne bottles was very dangerous … We often had to do that to put on a show for customers.”
Photos documenting the bar’s renovation in 2015 by the Morettis, who are originally from Corsica, suggest the stairway leading from the bar to the main exit was narrowed. Some of those who escaped said they were unaware of any other exits.
Jacques Moretti and his wife renovated the bar after taking over it in 2015
In Mr Moretti’s only public comment since the disaster, he said Le Constellation had been inspected “three times in ten years” and was “within safety norms”. However, local fire prevention regulations stipulate that inspections must be made “every year in buildings open to the public of presenting special risks”.
Mr Moretti told Swiss media that the couple were fully co-operating with the authorities.
Before moving to Switzerland, he ran a bar in Bonifacio, a Corsican beach resort. He was also involved in real estate in a French ski resort, La Clusaz.
Many of the victims were in their teens or twenties and some were burnt beyond recognition. The youngest person identified so far is a 14-year-old Swiss girl, while two 15-year-old girls, also from Switzerland, were among the dead.
A former British school girl was identified as the latest victim of a fire. Charlotte Niddam,15, who held Israeli-British-French citizenship, previously attended Immanuel College, a private school in Hertfordshire, and the Jewish Free School in north-west London.
In a statement on social media, her family said “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beautiful daughter and sister, Charlotte.” She was reportedly identified with the help of Zaka, the Israeli emergency services organisation.
The six young Italian victims have been identified, according to the Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
The six Italians identified were dual Italian-Emirati citizen Emanuele Galeppini, 17, a budding golf champion from Genoa who lived in Dubai, Achille Barosi and Chiara Costanzo both 16 and from Milan, Riccardo Minghetti, 16, from Rome, Giovanni Tamburi, 16, from Bologna, and Italo-Swiss citizen Sofia Prosperi, 15.
Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, said: “Accidents happen but this was not an accident but an avoidable tragedy: a bit of prevention and a minimum of good sense would have been enough.” By Sunday 11 severely burned Italian patients had been transferred for treatment in Milan’s Niguarda hospital.
A Swiss teenager who died saving a friend from the fire was identified as Benjamin Johnson, 18. The teen was a member of the Lausanne Boxing Club, and was hailed as a hero by the Swiss Boxing Federation.
“It is with deep sadness that we learnt of the death of Benjamin Johnson, member of the Club Lausannois de Boxe,” Amir Orfia, the president of Swiss Boxing said.
“I will remember him as a consistently positive, smiling, and respectful young man. He was always the first to support his teammates.”
Laëtitia Brodard-Sitre announced the death of her 16-year-old son Arthur Brodard in a post on Facebook, saying “Our Arthur has now gone to celebrate in heaven.”
“Now we can start our mourning, knowing he is in peace.”
Laëtitia Brodard-Sitre has announced the death of her 16-year-old son, Arthur
NOEMIE OLIVE/REUTERS
Meanwhile, a French footballer, Tahirys Dos Santos 19, was also hailed a hero for rescuing his girlfriend Coline Lanseigne, 22, from the burning building.
Tahirys suffered severe burns to his body and is now at a hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, while Coline suffered burns more than 30 per cent to her body and is currently in a hospital in Antwerp, Belgium. Valentine, Coline’s sister, posted a message of thanks to Tahirys on Instagram.
FC Metz, who Tahirys plays for, said they were deeply saddened by the news in an online statement. “The club’s management, players, coaches, and staff are in shock and extend their heartfelt condolences to Tahirys during this difficult time as he battles his illness,” they said.
Anger has grown over suggestions the bar may have turned a blind eye to under-age drinking and neglected fire regulations. Besides the dead, 119 people suffered injuries, including serious burns.
Hundreds of people attended a Mass for the dead and injured in Crans-Montana on Sunday. Dozens of people assembled outside and laid floral tributes to the victims. “I’m here to show faith and solidarity with the families,” said Clarisse, 52, who made the journey from Geneva, more than 60 miles away.
Watch: crowds in Crans-Montana mourn the victims of the new year’s fire
MAXIME SCHMID/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Loudspeakers and a big screen allowed a crowd of more than 1,000 people to follow the ceremony from inside and outside the Chapelle Saint-Christophe church.
Mourners gathered in below-freezing temperatures for the hour-long service, which included hymns and speakers delivering readings in German, French and Italian. The Rev Gilles Cavin spoke of the “terrible uncertainty” families had suffered, unsure if their loved ones were among the dead or injured, adding: “We pray for their friends hard hit by misery on this day that was meant to be one of festivities and friendship”.