A WAITRESS who was “like family” to owners of a Swiss bar that went up in flames was found among people trapped behind a locked door during the blaze that killed 40.
Jessica and Jacques Moretti, a married couple and co-owners of Le Constellation, recounted the harrowing details of the night of the deadly inferno to investigators.
It comes as 34 of the 40 bodies reportedly were found piled up at the foot of the narrow staircase, according to 20 Minuten.
Jessica said the night was “very quiet” to begin with, with hardly anyone in at midnight to celebrate the New Year, according to police statements obtained by BFMTV.
“I was just telling Cyane [a waitress] that we needed to bring in more people to liven things up,” Jessica recalled.
The Morettis said they considered Cyane, 24, like a member of their family.
She spent Christmas with the pair just days before the tragic event.
Jessica said groups of people started to flock to the venue until there were almost a hundred guests at the bar, she estimated.
Some time later, she spotted an “orange light in the corner of the bar”.
“I immediately shouted, ‘Everyone out!’ and immediately thought of calling the fire department.”
She called emergency services at 1.28am and told security guards to send everyone out.
She then called her husband Jacques, who arrived at the scene not long after.
He said he tried to enter the building but it was “impossible” because it was full of smoke.
Instead, he and two other people went around to a service door on the ground floor which was “closed and locked” from the inside.
If police find that the pair knowingly kept the door locked and knew the risks, it’s understood they could face new charges.
The current accusation is negligent homicide – but the couple could be charged with murder by implied malice.
The owners could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of such a crime.
He told investigators that he found a pile of bodies on the floor when he unlocked the door after the deadly blaze, one of which was waitress Cyane.
Jacques recalled the harrowing moment he tried to save her life.
“Her boyfriend and I tried to resuscitate her outside on the street for more than an hour until the paramedics told us it was too late,” Moretti said.
The owner also told investigators he personally replaced the foam layer on the ceiling which later burst into flames during the catastrophic blaze.
He said staff regularly used the sparklers, and that council staff who inspected the bar three times never declared it a fire hazard.
Jacques said he didn’t believe the sparklers were enough to have started the fire on their own.
“We’ve been doing this for ten years, and there’s never been a problem,” the manager said, quoted by Blick.
“It’s not impossible that these candles caused the fire,” he said, but went on to say he believed, “there must be something else”.
He said the pyrotechnics, “were not powerful enough to ignite the sound-absorbing foam. I had done some tests”.
It comes after two former staff members claimed fire extinguishers were often locked away at Le Constellation bar.
Known only as Maxime and Sarah, the former employees said that fire safety training at the bar in Crans-Montana had been “dicey”.
Maxime told BFM: “I always said that if waitresses held up sparklers and they came into contact [with the ceiling], everything could go up in flames.
“There was definitely a risk and the safety measures were a bit dicey … staff weren’t briefed on fire safety and the emergency exit was sometimes blocked or locked.”
On top of the 40 people killed by the blaze, some as young as 14 years old, 119 people were injured in the catastrophe.
As Jacques – who is alleged to be a former “pimp” with an extensive criminal history – was taken into custody on Friday, his wife told reporters she wanted to “apologise”.
While her husband was being taken to jail in a white van with tinted windows, Jessica continued: “It’s an unimaginable tragedy. We never could have imagined this. I want to apologise.
Beyond wearing a tag, Jessica will now have to report to police every three days.
Despite the apology and reports that the owner knew the emergency exit was locked, it is understood that the Morettis will continue to deny any criminal or civil wrongdoing, according to their defence team.
Dozens of victims, some as young as 14 years old, lost their lives after the rapid inferno engulfed the ski resort nightclub.
Lawyers for the victims of the fire had called for the couple, who are both French nationals, to be placed in pre-trial detention.
Sébastien Fanti, counsel for wounded who remain in hospital, said of Mr Moretti before today’s hearing: “He’s a shady character whose practices raise questions.”
Romain Jordan, a lawyer representing some of the 116 injured – many teenagers left with catastrophic burns – has claimed that Le Constellation bar suspended its Facebook and Instagram accounts while rescue operations were ongoing.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15766413/swiss-bar-fire-owners-say-waitress-family-died/
