Geneva, Jan 29, (dpa/GNA) – Investigators looking into the New Year’s fire disaster at a Swiss bar, have expanded their criminal inquiry to include a former municipal safety officer, Swiss public broadcaster RTS reported on Wednesday.
The man’s attorney confirmed to RTS that a criminal case has been opened into his client. The public prosecutor’s office has declined to comment on the development at this stage.
To date, only the operators of Le Constellation bar, the French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti, had been named as suspects. They are suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and causing a fire by negligence.
Forty people, many of them teenagers, were killed in the bar in the Alpine ski town of Crans-Montana in the early hours of January 1. Another 116 others were injured.
Investigators believe the disaster was triggered by sparklers attached to bottles, that set fire to foam insulation on the ceiling.
A key question is whether the bar had complied with fire safety regulations.
Five days after the disaster, the municipality admitted that mandatory annual fire safety inspections had not been carried out since 2019.
According to RTS, the proceedings will determine whether the identified failures could give rise to criminal liability on the part of the former safety officer.
GNA