Swiss ski resort admits safety lapses as probe deepens into fatal New Year fire

The mayor of Crans-Montana in Switzerland has acknowledged that the bar where 40 people died in a devastating New Year fire had not been subjected to annual safety inspections for several years, a lapse that has intensified scrutiny of local oversight as prosecutors investigate the tragedy.

Swiss authorities are still piecing together the sequence of events that led to the blaze at the Le Constellation, which tore through the basement venue in the early hours of 1 January. Most of those killed were teenagers.

“We are profoundly sorry. We did not have an indication that the checks had not been done,” mayor Nicolas Feraud told reporters on Tuesday, 6 January, stressing that bars in the resort are meant to undergo safety inspections every year.

Prosecutors believe the fire was likely sparked by celebratory sparkler candles that ignited the bar’s ceiling, which was lined with a foam material used for soundproofing. Feraud said the venue’s last inspection took place in 2019 and that the ceiling foam was deemed acceptable at the time. A fire alarm was not required because of the bar’s size.

“There were never any checks on this soundproofing foam. Our security agents did not consider it necessary,” Feraud said, adding that while the law does not oblige authorities to verify such materials, “the courts will have to determine whether this should have been done regardless.”

Two people who operated the bar are under investigation on suspicion of offences including homicide by negligence. Police said on Sunday that the circumstances did not warrant their arrest and that they were not considered a flight risk. Feraud said another venue run by the same pair has since been shut, and that sparkler candles — believed to have triggered the inferno — have now been banned inside venues across the town.

Alongside the 40 fatalities, at least 116 people were injured. The scale of the casualties has raised questions about possible overcrowding. Feraud said the bar’s maximum capacity was 200, with emergency exits designed to accommodate 100 people on each of its two levels. He said he did not know whether the downstairs exit was functioning on the night of the fire, a point investigators are now examining.

Authorities said inspections had also been carried out at the bar in 2016 and 2018. Before that, the building fell under a different local authority, Feraud noted, pointing to the creation of Crans-Montana in 2017 through the merger of four municipalities.

With agency inputs