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- Swiss bar owner detained after deadly New Year’s blaze (abcnews.go.com)
Swiss Bar Owner Detained Following Deadly New Year’s Day Blaze
SION, Switzerland – Prosecutors in Switzerland have taken the owner of a popular Swiss Alps bar into pre-trial detention following a devastating New Year’s Day fire that claimed 40 lives and injured 116 others. Jacques Moretti, co-owner of Le Constellation in the resort town of Crans-Montana, was detained Friday after a meeting with prosecutors from the Valais region.
The tragic inferno ripped through the popular establishment in the early hours of January 1. Moretti’s wife and business partner, Jessica Moretti, who was present at the bar during the fire and sustained a burn to her arm, also attended the meeting but was not detained.
Speaking to reporters outside the prosecutor’s office, Jacques Moretti expressed his profound grief, stating, “My constant thoughts are with the victims and those who are fighting today. This is an unimaginable tragedy.”
Swiss officials revealed earlier this week that Le Constellation had not undergone an inspection in the past five years. Nicolas Féraud, the municipal chief of Crans-Montana, described a “culture of reckless risk-taking” at the establishment, which he asserted “endangered customers and staff.”
Féraud also stated that the municipal government had “never received any alerts” regarding issues at the bar. While confirming the presence of an emergency exit in the basement, he could not confirm its operational status at the time of the fire.
The blaze, described as being of “undetermined origin,” ignited around 1:30 a.m. local time on January 1. On January 2, the Valais attorney general informed reporters that investigators were exploring several hypotheses, with a primary focus on the possibility that the fire was sparked by champagne bottle sparklers making contact with the ceiling.
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- Swiss bar owner detained after deadly New Year’s blaze (abcnews.go.com)