Daily London
Officials believe the sparklers, which shot upward, ignited the blaze when they came too close to the bar’s ceiling.
Authorities planned to examine whether the material on the ceiling that was designed to muffle sound conformed with regulations.
The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue.
Overnight, the Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.
The fire broke out about 1:30am local time on Thursday during a holiday celebration inside the Le Constellation bar.
Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female colleague on his shoulders as she held a lit sparkler on a bottle.
The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.
People tried to escape from a nightclub area in the basement, up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door, causing a crowd surge, one of the women said.
A young man at the scene said people smashed windows to escape, BFMTV reported.
Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old on vacation, rushed to help first responders. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.
“I have seen horror and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Campolo told French broadcaster TF1.
Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, also hurried to join the rescue effort.
“People were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them,” he told The Associated Press.
“There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out. She was all burnt. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”
Blaze triggered flashover
Investigators will examine whether sparklers were permitted for use in the bar.
They will also look at the safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers, escape routes, and compliance with regulations, Valais canton Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud said Friday.
She also warned of possible prosecutions if there was any criminal liability involving individuals.
Swiss officials described the blaze as a likely flashover, meaning it triggered the release of combustible gases that can ignite violently.
The injured suffered from serious burns and smoke inhalation.
Some were flown to specialist hospitals across the country and elsewhere in Europe.
Managers under investigation
The region’s chief prosecutor said that a criminal investigation has been opened into the bar’s two managers.
They are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing fire.
Pilloud said the investigation would help “explore all the leads”
Authorities didn’t name the managers in their announcement.
A Swiss business register lists a French couple, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, as the owners of the Constellation.
Switzerland’s Tribune de Genève newspaper reported that Jacques Moretti told it the bar had been checked “three times in 10 years” and that “everything was done within the standards”.
They have two other establishments, one in Crans-Montana and another in nearby Lens.
Investigators say they have been questioned, as have many others involved in the tragedy, as they gather information on what happened at the New Year’s event and what work was carried out on the bar in the past.
Identifying the dead and missing
Swiss officials said Friday that 119 people were injured and 113 had been identified.
The injured included more than 70 Swiss nationals and more than 10 each from France and Italy, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland.
Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland said he had been briefed by local authorities that the total number of injured stood at 121, five of whom hadn’t yet been identified.
Swiss police said that the identification of the dead and injured was still underway.
They said they had identified four of the deceased – all of them Swiss citizens aged 16 to 21 – and handed their bodies over to their families. They didn’t give further details.
The severity of the burns has made it very difficult to identify bodies, bringing more agony for families who now must hand over DNA samples to authorities.
