Families of the victims of a fire at a Swiss bar on New Year’s Eve have expressed shock after officials admitted the venue had not undergone safety checks for five years.
Romain Jordan, who represents some of the families, said the “staggering number of breaches and shortcomings in the inspections raises the question of whether the municipality should be investigated with even greater urgency”.
Other lawyers also urged officials to take responsibility for the disaster at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana in which 40 people died and 116 were injured.
Prosecutors believe the fire started when champagne bottles with sparklers attached set light to sound-insulating foam on the ceiling.
The two bar managers have been placed under criminal investigation, but not in custody.
French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti are suspected of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
In their first statement since the fire, they said they were “devastated” and pledged “full co-operation” with the investigation.
Venues like Le Constellation should have been checked annually, but the mayor of Crans-Montana, Nicolas Feraud, said on Tuesday he could not explain why it hadn’t been checked in so long.
“We regret that – we owe it to the families and we will accept the responsibility,” he said.
He added that sparklers would be banned in local venues.
Most of the victims of the fire were young – eight under the age of 16.
Many of the injured have severe burns and are being treated in Switzerland and other European countries.
The funerals of some of those who died have been taking place.
Under Switzerland’s political system, power is distributed among three levels of the confederation, 26 cantons and then about 2,131 municipalities.
While safety regulations are set by cantons, they need to be implemented by local authorities.
