The investigation into a deadly New Year’s blaze that tore through a Swiss bar packed with young people celebrating took a twist Tuesday after the local mayor admitted safety code failings. File photo by Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA
Jan. 6 (UPI) — The bar where 40 people were killed and 116 injured in a blaze in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year’s Day had not undergone an annual safety inspection since 2019, the town’s mayor admitted Tuesday.
Mayor Nicolas Feraud offered his apologies at a news conference, saying the municipal council was “profoundly sorry” but said he had no explanation as to why no checks on The Constellation bar had been carried out for so long.
“I have no answer for you today. We regret that — we owe it to the families and we will accept the responsibility. We’re profoundly sorry about that and I know how hard that will be for the families,” said Feraud.
He said the town had a five-strong team of people responsible for inspecting more than 10,000 buildings but did not give that as the reason for the failure and insisted he and other councilmen and women would not be resigning.
He said now was not the time to “jump ship” after being elected by Crans-Montana residents.
An outside contractor will now be brought in to carry out a safety audit and inspection of 128 public establishments in the town, but the failure has raised questions over Switzerland’s system of local politics run by non-career officials, many of them part-timers who often have day jobs.
However, Feraud did announce a local ban on use of sparklers — believed to have set the ceiling of the bar ablaze when pyrotechnic champagne bottles were carried too high aloft — inside all commercial premises.
Soundproofing foam on the ceiling that has been blamed for the rapid spread of the fire was within code when The Constellation was last inspected but Feraud said the use of sparklers in spaces fitted with the foam was irresponsible.
Feraud also pointed to crowding in excess of the legally permitted capacity of the premises, which he said was the responsibility of the management of the bar, but said it would for judges to decide whether local officials should fall under the criminal investigation being pursued by prosecutors.
He said the French owners of the bar, Jacques Moretti and Jessica Moretti, were under investigation, but had not been arrested. A second venue they owned had been shut, he added.
The prosecutors’ office for the Valais region said the couple were being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
Feraud said the council had provided prosecutors with all relevant documents and would join the case as a civil party.
The developments came as authorities completed identification of all the victims and began the process of returning them to families in Switzerland, Italy, France and countries around the world.
The majority of those caught up in the tragedy were young with an average age of 19.
