Emergency exit was ‘always locked’, bartender claims amid probe into deadly Swiss ski resort inferno

A criminal investigation was launched yesterday against the French owners of the Swiss ski bar, which was subjected to a deadly inferno on New Year’s Eve, over claims that the venue’s emergency exit door was ‘always locked’.

Police announced that 49-year-old Jacques Moretti and his 40-year-old wife Jessica are being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter due to negligence, bodily harm and arson following the terrible fire that killed 40 people and injured 119 people.

Hell broke out in the venue’s basement bar at Le Constellation in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana, when sparklers from champagne bottles set fire to the insulating foam ceiling.

Harrowing video footage showed revelers, many of them young, continuing to party as flames spread through the ceiling, losing critical seconds to escape.

The venue has been branded a ‘death trap’ after partygoers were revealed to have squeezed up a narrow staircase to escape flames and toxic smoke in the basement.

But in a major development, it was claimed yesterday that there was another potential escape route via the emergency exit in the basement, but this route was allegedly locked at all times.

Bartender Andrea, 31, who works elsewhere on the premises but is a regular at Le Constellation, told German newspaper Bild: ‘There was an entrance that also served as an exit. And there was an emergency exit. But every time I went there, it was always locked.

‘Everyone in town knew things were going to go wrong sooner or later.

‘The emergency exit was in a separate smoking room. Almost no one used it; Most of them went to the conservatory. The smoking room was used as a kind of warehouse. Inside there was a sofa in front of the door and carelessly discarded items were lying outside.’

A temporary memorial in front of ‘Le Constellation’ bar after the fire

Another eyewitness, Grigori, who was going to the bar when the fire broke out and whose friend was among the missing, said: ‘There is another exit, but I think some people were locking it because they escaped without paying.’

The Mail on Sunday also spotted a third exit on the bar’s ground floor, which leads to a covered shopping area which also includes a ski hire shop.

However, anyone using this exit will have to go through another glass door to escape to the street. It is unclear whether any of these doors were open or locked when the fire started at 1.30am.

The revelations came as a 16-year-old girl from Milan, Italy, became the second person named as a victim. Chiara Costanzo’s father Andrea told an Italian newspaper he felt a “huge void” after receiving a call “that a father should never receive”.

“We were hoping until the end that Chiara would be among the injured who were taken to hospital but have not yet been identified,” he said. ‘Then without warning the world collapses. You’re never ready. You can’t be.

‘It’s not natural for a father to lose his daughter. I wish it wasn’t ‘just’ a name on the list of victims. Because he was never number one. ‘She was a very popular girl.’

The news that 17-year-old golf prodigy Italian citizen Emanuele Galeppini was the first victim reported dead was also confirmed by the Italian Golf Federation on Friday.

Police said yesterday that the eight Swiss victims had been identified and their bodies returned to their families. Four of them are women and four are men, two of whom are 16 years old.

But dozens of families continue to face an agonizing wait as experts try to identify the remaining 30 victims and five of the most seriously injured.

The entrance of bar Le Constellation, where a fire broke out during New Year’s celebrations in the alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana

Mourners hug victims of the fire near bar in Crans-Montana alongside floral gifts

Swiss justice minister Beat Jans (second from right) looks at a memorial honoring the victims

A firefighter remembers the victims of the deadly fire at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland

A photo has emerged showing the moment champagne sparklers set fire to materials on the ceiling of a Swiss nightclub.

Footage shows the deadly flash, in which extreme heat caused everything inside the enclosure to ignite almost simultaneously, leaving people with little chance of escape

“This is a wait that destabilizes people,” said Elvira Venturella, an Italian psychologist who works with families. The missing include French-born 15-year-old Charlotte Niddam, who attended Immanuel College, a private Jewish school in Hertfordshire, and the Free Jewish School in North London.

One of their friends, Summer Chesler, posted a video montage of the couple dancing together yesterday with the caption: ‘I miss my best friend.’

Another friend, Sophie, shared a separate TikTok video with the caption: ‘I’m heartbroken. Please come home Charlotte, we are all waiting for you.’

Among the missing is 16-year-old Arthur Brodard. ‘There are five unidentified people in the hospital,’ said his mother Laetitia from Lausanne, Switzerland. [but] The authorities refuse to tell us where they are, in which country, in which canton. Anger begins to build. ‘There are over 30 parents looking for our children.’

Stephane Ganzer, the state councilor responsible for the Ministry of Security, said identifying the victims was the “number one priority” and acknowledged the families’ “unbearable wait”.

Yesterday Mr Moretti appeared for the first time since the tragedy near a restaurant he owns in the nearby village of Lens. He refused to answer the MoS’ questions.

Meanwhile, on last night’s episode of ITV’s The Masked Singer, a performance of the song Disco Inferno, which featured dancers wearing firefighter outfits, was canceled ‘due to potential insensitivities’.