Crans-Montana fire: Swiss bar co-owner detained over potential flight risk, local media says

BERLIN – Swiss prosecutors summoned on Jan 9 the two owners of a ski resort bar where a

fire on New Year’s Day killed 40 people,

and a local newspaper said one of the duo had been detained, as calls grow for those responsible to be held to account.

Prosecutors are investigating the French owners on suspicion of crimes including homicide by negligence, while victims’ families have filed legal complaints over the fire at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais.

Mr Jacques Moretti, one of the two owners, who are a couple, has been remanded in custody as he is a potential flight risk, Swiss newspaper 24 heures reported, citing unidentified sources.

The Valais police declined to comment, referring questions to the prosecutor’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier on Jan 9, Mr Moretti and Mrs Jessica Moretti did not respond to reporters’ questions as they entered the prosecutors’ office in the town of Sion. The Swiss authorities have designated Jan 9 a national day of mourning.

Several French and Italian citizens were among the dead, and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for stern punishment to be meted out to those responsible for the blaze.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella and French President Emmanuel Macron joined Swiss leaders, victims’ families and firefighters at a ceremony on Jan 9 in the town of Martigny, where a minute’s silence was held to remember the victims.

Dozens of people also stood near the shuttered bar in nearby Crans-Montana in silence, heads bowed under heavy snowfall.

The authorities placed hundreds of letters, teddy bears and bouquets of flowers for the fire victims beneath an igloo to protect them from snowfall.

Politicians call for full accountability

Speaking at the Martigny ceremony, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said he hoped that those responsible for the fire would be brought to account “without delay or leniency”.

That must also include the relevant political authorities, said Mr Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais government.

Speaking in Rome on Jan 9, Ms Meloni pledged to help the families of the Italian victims find justice, and said she was weighing a ban in Italy on the use of sparklers indoors.

“What happened in Crans-Montana is the result of too many people not doing their job or thinking they were making easy money. Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted.”

Witnesses and prosecutors have said the blaze appeared to have been started by the use of sparkling candles that set alight foam soundproofing on the basement ceiling.

Questions remain about oversight at the bar, which the local mayor admitted this week had missed multiple safety checks.

Prosecutors said last weekend that the legal criteria to detain the bar’s owners had so far not been met.

In a statement on Jan 6, the owners said: “We are devastated and overcome with grief, our thoughts are constantly with the victims, their loved ones who have been bereaved so brutally and prematurely, and all those who are fighting for their lives.”

Twenty-one of those who died in the fire were from Switzerland, seven from France and six from Italy. A Swiss-French dual national and a French-British-Israeli national were also among the dead. REUTERS