The number of victims of the Crans-Montana fire identified by the Swiss police rises to 24. In addition to the three Italian citizens of whom there was already news during the night, the other newly identified are four Swiss citizens aged 18, two aged 15 and one aged 14; six Swiss citizens aged 31, 20, 18, 17 and two 16; an 18 year old Romanian citizen; a 39-year-old Frenchman and an 18-year-old Turkish citizen.
“The Municipality of Crans-Montana has not taken a lax approach in inspecting bars.” This was said by the mayor of Crans-Montana, Nicolas Féraud, hit by controversy over the fire that caused 40 victims in the Le Constellation club on New Year’s Eve. The Swiss newspaper Blick reports this, citing a statement by the mayor on the French-speaking Swiss radio RTS. In the canton of Valais, municipalities are responsible for fire controls, and buildings accessible to the public, such as bars, must be inspected annually, recalls Blick. The owner of the Le Constellation bar where the massacre took place, Jacques Moretti, had instead declared that his place had been inspected “three times in ten years”. Last night, the Municipality of Crans-Montana issued a press release announcing its intention to become a civil party in the criminal proceedings against the bar owners.