In the most detailed account yet of the New Year’s Day tragedy, the co-owner of the Crans-Montana bar in Switzerland where around 40 people died has shared the heartbreaking moment he discovered one of his employees.
The fire at ski resort bar Le Constellation in the early hours of January 1 killed about 40 people, including 20 children, and injured 116 others. Victims were airlifted to hospitals across the country with specialized burn units. Investigators believe sparklers attached to champagne bottles ignited the bar’s basement ceiling, causing the blaze to spread rapidly.
Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the couple who co-owned the bar, face charges including manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and arson by negligence.
Speaking to prosecutors before being detained on Friday, 49-year-old Jacques Moretti described opening a locked service door at the back of the bar to find a pile of unconscious bodies. Among them was 24-year-old waitress Cyane Panine, who the Morettis considered like a daughter.
Jessica Moretti told investigators she was in the bar when the fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. during New Year’s celebrations. She said she noticed a movement in the crowd and an orange light in a corner, prompting her to shout for everyone to evacuate and alert the fire department. She called her husband, who was at another restaurant they own, saying, “Constel is on fire, come immediately!”
When Jacques arrived, the bar was filled with smoke and the main entrance was inaccessible. He and two others forced open a locked service door, which was normally open but had been latched from the inside. Behind it, several people were lying unconscious.
Jacques Moretti recounted that he and his family tried to rescue and revive Panine outside the bar for over an hour before paramedics declared it too late. “I raised a child as if she were my own. [Her boyfriend] and I tried to revive her on the street for over an hour until the paramedics told us it was too late,” he said.
Jessica Moretti added, “Cyane was like my little sister. She spent Christmas with us. I’m devastated. I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. I feel responsible because I couldn’t protect all the victims. This is the tragedy of my life.”
Both owners expressed their devastation to prosecutors, describing the loss as the most painful experience of their lives.
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