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Jacques Moretti and Jessica Moretti gave evidence at the office of the public prosecutor of the Canton of Valais, in Sion, on Friday(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Bosses at a Swiss bar where 40 people were killed in a New Year’s blaze have told how a waitress they viewed as “a stepdaughter” suffocated “in a pile of bodies behind a locked door”.
In their most detailed account of the disaster to date, Jacques and Jessica Moretti said Cyane Panine’s last minutes alive encapsulated the full horror of the evening. Ms Panine had been encouraged by Ms Moretti, 40, to “get the atmosphere going” at Le Constellation, in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana, in the early hours of January 1. This included getting waitresses to put sparklers in champagne bottles, before some were lifted up on the shoulders of waiters in the bar’s basement.
The pyrotechnics are thought to have lit soundproofing foam in the ceiling, triggering a massive fire in which – beyond the dead – 116 others were also severely burned. Mr Moretti, 49, eventually broke open the door to the basement from the outside, and found Ms Panine dying, while surrounded by “a pile of bodies”.
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Jacques Moretti told how he discovered “several people lying on the floor, unconscious” when he reached Le Constellation bar(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Mr Moretti told the Vallais public prosecutor’s office in nearby Sion, he only became aware after the fire that the bar’s “service door” was “locked from the inside and on a latch”. Mr Moretti’s wife is meanwhile said to have driven herself home. Mr Moretti is currently in custody, while his wife has been bailed with an electronic bracelet, as they await possible trial on a range of charges, including manslaughter and causing bodily harm by negligence.
Referring to Ms Panine in a day-long interview by prosecutors on Friday, Mr Moretti said she was the girlfriend of a close family friend whom the Morettis had “raised as if he were my own”. Recalling how he found Ms Panine dying, Mr Moretti said: “I went out onto the patio [behind the bar] All the windows were open. There were a lot of people there. I tried to get inside but it was impossible. There was far too much smoke.”
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Waitress Cyane Panine was among 40 people killed in the blaze in the Swiss skiing resort of Crans-Montana(Image: Handout)
Pointing to the “service door” rather than an exit, Mr Moretti said it was “closed and locked from the inside with a latch, whereas it usually wasn’t. We forced it open – it finally gave way in a few seconds. When the door opened, several people were lying on the floor, unconscious. My stepdaughter Cyane was one of them. We pulled them all outside and put them in the recovery position.”
Ms Panine, like the Morettis a French national, died within the hour. Mr Moretti said he and Ms Panine’’s boyfriend, “tried to resuscitate her for more than an hour in the street near the bar, until the emergency services told us it was too late”. Jessica Moretti was interviewed separately to her husband on Friday and – according to records released to media outlets – told investigators: “Cyane was like a little sister to me. She had spent Christmas with us. I was devastated.’
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Footage emerged of a waitress at Le Constellation sitting on the shoulders of a colleague while holding a sparkler(Image: BMFTV)
Ms Moretti said she had arrived at the Constellation – which she referred to as “the Constel” – at 10.30pm on New Year’s Eve, while her husband remained at the Senso, a restaurant they own nearby. “At midnight, there were very few people in the bar,” said Ms Moretti.
“Then groups gradually arrived, bringing the number of customers present to just under a hundred. I was just telling Cyane that we needed to bring in more people to get the atmosphere going.” Waitresses in face masks then perched on the shoulders of waiters, bringing “champagne sparklers” to tables which had been hired for the equivalent of some £900 each.
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A probe is ongoing into how 40 people were killed and 116 were injured when a blaze broke out at “Le Constellation” bar(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“Suddenly, I felt a surge of people,” said Ms Moretti. “I saw orange light in the corner of the bar. I immediately yelled: ‘Everyone out!’, and I immediately thought of calling the fire department. I left the establishment through the main entrance, taking the stairs, to tell the security guard to get everyone out. Once outside, I called 118 [the emergency number for the fire service in Switzerland]. It was 1.28am.”
Ms Moretti then called her husband, saying: “There’s a fire at the Constel, come quickly! I was in a state of complete panic, the call lasted 11 seconds. He immediately told me he was coming to meet me.” Ms Moretti told prosecutors: “When I got home, I was panicking, in a daze, my body was giving out on me.”
Mr Moretti confirmed that he told his wife, who had suffered a very minor arm injury, to get into her car and go home to take care of their own children. “I told her not to stay and witness this tragedy,” he said. “I wanted to protect her.” The couple told how they first rented the Constellation in 2015, when they “renovated it from A to Z,” including “the flooring, the furniture, and the bar itself,” including replacing the foam in the ceiling.
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A vigil was held at the site of the fire during a national day of mourning in tribute to the victims of the fire(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“The fire service carried out two or three fire inspections in 10 years of operation, without ever requiring any requests for renovations or modifications to the premises,” said Mr Moretti, who admitted there was no sprinkler system, or even fire extinguishers.
Asked if employees such as Ms Panine were trained in fire safety, he replied: “No.” He said the champagne sparklers were regularly used without incident, “for example at birthday parties”. The lit sparklers lasted “between 30 and 40 seconds”, and “we never let customers handle the sparklers”. Mr Moretti added: “As soon as they go out, we take them and put them in a glass of water.”
Mr Moretti insisted he had previously carried out tests, and claimed the sparklers were not powerful enough to ignite the acoustic foam, so “something else must have been going on”.
In turn, Jessica Moretti said: “We always add a sparkler when we serve a bottle of wine in the dining room.” Asked why they allowed the stunt which placed the sparklers so close to the ceiling, Ms Moretti said: “It wasn’t the first time, but it wasn’t something we did systematically. I never stopped them from doing it, but I never forced them either.”
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Dozens of people were killed in the horror blaze(Image: )
Most of those who died were teenagers, including a French boy aged just 14. Questions have been raised over the number of underage customers inside the venue. Mr Moretti said the bar prohibited anyone under the age of 16, and required customers aged between 16 and 18 to be accompanied by an adult. He said he had given these orders to security staff, but admitted that “it’s possible that there was a lapse in protocol”.
The couple, who are both originally from the French island of Corsica, are suspected of “negligent manslaughter, causing bodily harm negligently, and negligent arson”. They both deny any criminal or civil wrongdoing.
Mr Moretti is an ex-pimp, with a series of convictions and prison spells behind him, while his wife is said to have a clean record with the police. Ms Panine’s funeral took place in her home town of Sète, in the South of France, on Saturday. Her family and friends said they were convinced she could have been saved.
Astrid Panine, Ms Panine’s mother, said: “Cyane knew the place perfectly. She quickly headed for the emergency exit and could have saved herself and others. But it was locked.” The investigation into the fire continues.
