The scrutiny is intensifying over safety measures at a Swiss bar that was engulfed by flames during a New Year’s Eve party, killing at least 40 people, as prosecutors said the fire likely began when pyrotechnic candles were kept too close to the ceiling.
Witnesses reported having seen staff at Le Constellation bar carrying the so-called fountain candles on top of champagne bottles, and questions also arose about a foam material used to protect the ceiling of the basement where attendees danced.
Beatrice Pilloud, the chief prosecutor of Valais, the canton that houses the bar in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana, said that the indications available were that the fire started because the candles came too close to the ceiling.
‘From there, a fast, very fast and widespread fire followed,’ she said on Friday afternoon.
Investigations will later determine whether anyone can be criminally responsible for the fire, Pilloud said.
The police arrived quickly at the scene, according to locals, but the fire burned the victims so severely that investigators said they would need days to identify the bodies.
So far, authorities have identified only one Italian teenage golfer, Emanuele Galeppini. According to two people familiar with the investigation, some of the victims may have been under 16 years old.
Residents said the bar was popular with young people, and the Swiss government said many of the dead were likely young. Beer and wine can be consumed from age 16 in Switzerland.
One of the bar’s owners, Jacques Moretti, told the Tribune de Geneve that Le Constellation had been inspected three times in 10 years and that everything was done in accordance with the rules. Reuters was not able to immediately reach the bar’s owners to comment on the matter.
Stephane Ganzer, head of security in Valais, said that the investigation would determine whether the bar had passed its annual building inspections, but that the city had not raised concerns or reported defects to the canton.
Residents in mourning continued to pay tribute to the victims of the fire on Friday, leaving flowers and tributes nearby, even as police began reopening the area around the bar, isolated in the heart of the wealthy mountain city.
One of them, Ashley Hauri, 23, said that, shortly before the fire, she was about to go to Le Constellation to talk with friends. In the end, she decided not to go.
Six of her former colleagues, aged between 20 and 40, were inside when the fire started, she said. Two of them were taken to hospital; the other four remain missing.
‘I was really shocked,’ Hauri said, who immediately tried to contact her friends. ‘But I didn’t have answers and I was really frightened and panicking because I wanted to do something.’
