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Owner of Swiss ski bar where 40 people were killed in blaze on New Year's Eve taken into custody

Owner of Swiss ski bar where 40 people were killed in blaze on New Year's Eve taken into custody

Photograph: (AFP)

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The owner of the Swiss ski resort bar where 40 people died in a fire on New Year's has been taken into custody.

Swiss authorities have detained one of the co-owners of the Swiss ski bar where 40 people were killed and over 100 were injured during a massive blaze on New Year's Eve. Jacques Moretti, a French national, was suspected of fleeing the country after the incident. Fire at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana left 116 people wounded, many of the victims being under 20 years of age.

The authorities found out this week that the bar in the ski resort had not undergone any safety checks for five years.

Jacques Moretti and his French Wife, Jessica, who co-owned the place, have been investigated by Swiss prosecutors over criminal charges. The couple is suspected of manslaughter by negligence, physical harm by negligence, according to the prosecutors' office in Valais.

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The owners said they are devastated over the incident and pledged full cooperation during the investigation.

According to investigators, the fire began when people celebrating the New Year raised champagne bottles with sparklers attached. When the sparklers on the champagne bottles touched the low ceiling, they caught the foam insulation and other flammable materials on fire, and the flames spread very quickly.

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Switzerland on Friday observed a minute of silence on a national day of mourning for the victims of the fire. The church bells rang across the country for five minutes while trains and trams halted, and the Zurich airport briefly paused operations.

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Ajaypal Choudhary

Driven by a deep interest in international politics and geo-economics, Ajaypal Choudhary writes on and analyses a wide range of subjects from geopolitics and the global economy to ...Read More