Swiss bar owner faces fresh hearing over deadly New Year ski resort fire

Prosecutors are investigating possible negligence by the bar owners and municipal authorities after safety inspections reportedly stopped in 2019. The co-owner of a Swiss ski resort bar ravaged by fire was questioned again by prosecutors on Monday over a New Year disaster that killed 41 people. Fire tore through Le Constellation bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort as young revellers, many of them teenagers, celebrated the New Year. The tragedy also injured 115 people. Bar owners face renewed questioning Public prosecutors in Wallis canton have focused on Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the French owners of the bar. Both had been scheduled to be questioned on Monday, but prosecutors opted against calling Jessica Moretti after a psychologist raised concerns about her “highly fragile psychological state” and the risks associated with a “direct confrontation” with her husband. Jacques Moretti has been in pre-trial detention since August following allegations of domestic violence against his wife. Families of victims demand accountability Several badly-burned victims and family members of those who died also made the trip to the Energypolis campus in Sion where the questioning took place. Among them was Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, wearing two photographs pinned to her jacket: one of her 16-year-old son Arthur who died in the tragedy and the other of his flower-covered grave. She told reporters she hoped Jacques Moretti would “have fewer lapses in memory than he did at the last hearing” in June, and that he would “take responsibility for his actions”. “We are here for our children,” said Astrid Panine, whose daughter Cyane was a waitress at the bar who died. “I am here for all the victims and all those who were injured… (Some) are suffering immensely, who have lost fingers, ears, they’ve lost everything.” Investigation examines possible fire safety failures A preliminary investigation suggested that sound-insulation foam that lined the ceiling of the bar’s basement ignited when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were raised into the air. The investigation is focusing on the potential liability of the bar owners and the current and former municipal authorities, with charges so far brought against 17 individuals. Following the tragedy, Crans-Montana officials admitted that no fire or safety inspections had been conducted at the bar since 2019. All the defendants face charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.