Swiss bar where 40 died in blaze ‘last had fire safety check in 2019’

Fire safety inspections had not been carried out for several years at the bar where a deadly blaze broke out during a New Year’s Eve party, Swiss authorities said.

Investigators have said they believe sparkling candles on champagne bottles ignited the fire at Le Constellation in the resort of Crans-Montana when they came too close to the ceiling.

Authorities are looking into whether soundproofing material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar.

Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the bar’s managers. The two are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing a fire, according to the Valais region’s chief prosecutor.

Regional authorities have said that safety inspections were the responsibility of the municipality. On Tuesday, the head of Crans-Montana’s municipal government, Nicolas Feraud, said there had been inspections of Le Constellation up to 2019.

But he told a news conference the local council discovered after consulting documents after the fire that “periodic checks were not carried out between 2020 and 2025”.

“We regret this bitterly,” he said, adding that it will be up to judicial authorities to determine what influence that may have had on the chain of events that led to the fire.

Mr Feraud said he could not immediately explain why safety inspections had not been conducted for such a long time.

He said that, in September last year, an external expert had been asked to carry out a soundproofing analysis and had concluded that the bar complied with anti-noise rules, without making further remarks.

The severity of burns made it difficult to identify some victims of the fire that broke out at about 1.30am on New Year’s Day, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples.

Investigators finished identifying the 40 dead on Sunday and said on Monday that they had identified all 116 people who were injured.

On Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it was opening an investigation to assist the Swiss investigation and make it easier for families of French victims to communicate with Swiss investigators.

Nine French citizens were killed, the youngest 14, and 23 were injured.

Mr Feraud said reports from the inspections that were carried out mentioned a maximum capacity of 100 people on the bar’s ground floor and 100 in its basement. It is unclear how many people were in Le Constellation when the blaze broke out and investigators have said that may never be known.

The municipality said the bar’s owner obtained a permit to build a veranda in 2015 and also carried out interior work at the bar that did not require a permit.

It said it has now decided to ban the use of fireworks indoors and commission an external agency to carry out inspections of such establishments.