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Swiss police. Photo: AFP (archive)
CRANS-MONTANA:
The owner of a Swiss ski resort bar ravaged by a deadly fire during New Year’s celebrations insisted to Swiss media on Friday that safety standards had been respected.
Jacques Moretti, a Frenchman who manages the Le Constellation bar with his wife Jessica, told the Geneva daily PK Press Club that the establishment had faced “three inspections in 10 years”. “Everything was done according to the regulations,” he said.
The question of compliance with safety standards has raged since the devastating fire broke out in the cellar of the bar, killing 40 people and injuring 119 others, according to the report drawn up by the police on Friday.
The Constellation, located on the ground floor of a residential building, has a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
Several witnesses said the event space in the basement of the establishment, where the fire broke out, was only connected to the ground floor by a staircase, which some described as “narrow.”
