Switzerland is holding a national day of mourning on Jan. 9 to honor the 40 people killed in an Alpine bar fire on New Year's Day.
A further 116 people were injured, many of them seriously, when the fire broke out less than two hours after midnight at the Le Constellation bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana on Jan. 1.
"At the same time, bells will ring out at churches of the three official religious communities. The memorial service organized by the canton of Valais will begin in Martigny at 1:45 p.m. In Bern, the flags on the Federal Palace and other federal buildings will be flown at half-mast on Friday."
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola will also be in attendance, along with Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, and Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric. Other nations are to be represented by their ambassadors.
In total, 21 of the dead were Swiss citizens, seven were French, and six were Italian.
Other victims came from Romania, Turkey, Portugal, and Belgium. One victim was a Swiss-French dual national, and another was a 15-year-old girl who held French, Israeli, and British citizenship.
Bar Owners Summoned
The memorial comes on the same day Swiss prosecutors summoned the owners of La Constellation, who are suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm, and negligent arson.Victims' families have also filed legal complaints over the blaze.
The owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, did not answer reporters' questions as they entered the prosecutors' office in the nearby town of Sion on Jan. 9.
The French couple has expressed their grief over the fire and said they would cooperate fully with the investigation.
"We are devastated and overcome with grief, our thoughts are constantly with the victims, their loved-ones who have been bereaved so brutally and prematurely, and all those who are fighting for their lives," they said in a statement on Jan. 6.
Along with the investigation by Swiss authorities, Italian and French prosecutors have also opened their own probes into the incident.
“Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted,” she added.
“We are profoundly sorry. We did not have an indication that the checks had not been done,” Mayor Nicolas Feraud said about the lack of fire safety checks at the Le Constellation bar between 2020 and 2025.
Feraud said fire inspections should have been carried out annually in the town’s bars, and that the last one in 2019 at Le Constellation had been positive.
Prosecutors said the fire was likely caused by champagne sparklers that ignited the soundproofing foam in the bar’s basement ceiling.
Chief prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud told reporters on Jan. 2 that investigators have now confirmed central elements of their initial theory about the fire at Le Constellation.
“Everything suggests that the fire started from the burning candles or ‘Bengal lights’ that had been attached to champagne bottles,” Pilloud said at a news conference, adding that this hypothesis was likely but not yet confirmed.
“From there, a rapid, very rapid, and widespread conflagration ensued,” she said.
Champagne sparklers have now been banned in Crans-Montana's venues.