Featured Image Credit: MAXIME SCHMID/Getty
Topics: Food and Drink
William Morgan
The couple who own the bar in the Swiss Alps where at least 40 people died on New Year's Eve have spoken for the first time since the horrifying incident to share their shock.
119 New Year's revellers were also injured in the deadly inferno, which tore through the bar Le Constellation in the resort town of Crans-Montana after 1.00am on the morning of January 1, with Switzerland's president Guy Parmelin calling it 'one of the worst tragedies' to hit the country.
With dozens of seriously injured people receiving treatment in hospitals across the region and the bodies of 40 people recovered from the bar, investigators in the country have said they are carrying out 'extensive' investigations to identify those killed in the blaze.
French couple Jacques Moretti, 49, and wife Jessica, 40, told local media in Switzerland that they 'can't eat' in the wake of the tragedy at their bar.
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The deadly inferno is currently believed to have been caused by sparklers placed in the neck of champagne bottles.
Images on social media purporting to show bar staff carrying out large bottles of fizz while sat on someone's shoulders, with sparks pouring from the top of the bottles.
Another appears to show a fire spreading on the ceiling, as revellers wave sparkler bottles in the air.
Béatrice Pilloud, the lead prosecutor for the Valais region, said on Friday that two French managers at Le Constellation had been interviewed in relation to the mass fatality incident, which took place around 1.30am. She confirmed that manslaughter charges were a possibility.
She said: "Everything leads us to think that the fire started from sparkling candles - or sparklers - which were put on bottles of champagne, and that was moved too close to the ceiling.
"From that, a blaze began very quickly."
Speaking to Swiss outlet 20 Minuten, the bar owners said in a brief statement: "We can neither sleep nor eat, we are all very unwell."
They also added that 'everything was done according to the regulations', with the bar being inspected three times over the past decade.
Survivors of the fire have said that a major issue during the evacuation was a 'narrow' staircase that partygoers had to escape through on New Year's Eve, while the crowd crushed behind them to flee the burning basement room of the venue.
Le Constellation was a large bar with multiple floors that had been operated in the town for many years. In addition to a downstairs club with a big bar, it had an upstairs area where people could watch sports. It is also understood to be one of the few establishments in the area to allow under-16s, who are legally allowed to drink.
Bar owner Mr Moretti has said: "We will do everything we can to help clarify the causes. We are doing everything in our power. Our lawyers are also involved."
State prosecutor Pilloud has advised that the couple currently face 'no criminal liability' while investigators examine the causes of the deadly fire. Local police chief Pierre-Antoine Lengen has told the public that it will take some time to establish the identities of all of the victims.
A number of young people are feared dead in the incident, with Swiss nationals believed to have made up the majority of the Le Constellation fire's victims.