Swiss authorities have identified all 40 victims killed in a devastating New Year’s fire at a bar in the alpine resort of Crans-Montana, as prosecutors confirmed that the venue’s owners are being investigated on suspicion of negligent manslaughter.
Police in Valais said the victims included 20 minors. Those killed were aged between 14 and 39 and represented a wide cross-section of nationalities, reflecting Crans-Montana’s status as a popular international destination. The dead included 21 Swiss nationals, nine French nationals – among them one Franco-Swiss citizen and one person holding French, Israeli, and British nationality – six Italians including one Italian-Emirati, as well as one Belgian woman, one Portuguese woman, one Romanian man, and one Turkish man.
The fire, which broke out shortly after 1.30am on New Year’s Day in the basement of the crowded Le Constellation bar, also left 119 people injured, many with severe burns. Hundreds of residents and visitors later walked in silence to a nearby chapel of rest following a memorial service, as the local community struggled to come to terms with the scale of the tragedy.
“The world’s media are focused on our resort. We thank them for seeking the compassion which the families of the injured and deceased so desperately need,” said Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion during the service, one of several planned in the coming days.
Switzerland has declared a national day of mourning for January 9. Church bells across the country will ring at 2pm local time, followed by a nationwide moment of silence.
Many of the victims were young people at the beginning of their adult lives. “Many of the victims were apprentices, high school students, and university students,” said Pastor Gilles Cavin of the Reformed Church of Switzerland at the memorial mass, which was held in a church roughly 300 meters from the bar and broadcast on a large outdoor screen to accommodate the crowds.
Despite temperatures falling to minus nine degrees Celsius, hundreds of mourners gathered outside, some holding bouquets of flowers, others a single red rose, as the church filled well before the service began.
Investigators believe the fire may have been sparked by lit sparklers attached to champagne bottles, which are thought to have ignited foam material on the ceiling. Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the bar’s French owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, who are accused of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and negligent arson.
With Crans-Montana attracting visitors from across Europe and beyond, many foreign nationals were also among the injured. Officials said those hurt include 71 Swiss citizens, at least 14 French nationals, 11 Italians, four Serbians, and individuals from Belgium, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Poland, and Portugal.
At the memorial, Pastor Cavin told mourners that the gathering was an act of collective refusal to turn away from loss. “In the face of the unspeakable, in the face of the brutality of death and suffering, we refuse to look away,” he said. “We are here to express our compassion and our solidarity.”
