Owner of Swiss ski resort bar held in custody after deadly New Year’s Eve fire

One of the co-owners of the Swiss bar where 40 people died in a fire on New Year’s Eve has been detained.

Swiss prosecutors said that Jacques Moretti, a French national, was a potential flight risk.

The blaze at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana left 116 people injured. Many of the victims were aged under 20.

It emerged this week that the bar in the ski resort had not undergone safety checks for five years.

Jacques Moretti and his French wife Jessica, who own the bar together, had been placed under criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors.

They are both suspected of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, the prosecutors’ office in Valais said.

The co-owners have said they are “devastated”, pledging “full co-operation” with the ongoing investigation.

The prosecutors have said they believe the fire started when people celebrating the New Year raised champagne bottles with sparklers attached, setting light to sound-insulating foam on the ceiling of the basement bar.

On Friday, Switzerland staged a minute of silence on a national day of mourning for the victims of the fire.

Church bells then rang across the country for five minutes.

Trains and trams came to a halt and Zurich airport briefly paused operations.

At a local commemoration staged in Crans-Montana, there was a standing ovation for firefighters.

The news that the bar had not been inspected for five years shocked families of the victims.

Romain Jordan, who represents some of the families, said earlier this week the “staggering number of breaches and shortcomings in the inspections raises the question of whether the municipality should be investigated with even greater urgency”.

Venues like Le Constellation should have been checked annually, but Crans-Montana Mayor Nicolas Feraud said on Tuesday he could not explain why this had not been done for so long at that bar.

“We regret that – we owe it to the families and we will accept the responsibility,” he said.

He added that sparklers would be banned in local venues.

Most of the victims of the fire were young – eight were under the age of 16.

Many of the injured have severe burns and are being treated in Switzerland and other European countries.

The funerals of some of those who died have been taking place.