Swiss inferno blame game

VALAIS – The Swiss bar owners facing prison following the New Year fire in which 40 people died have firmly blamed their young staff for causing it and blocking an escape exit, it emerged yesterday.

Jacques Moretti, 49, and his wife Jessica Morett, 40, are both currently under judicial supervision following the inferno during January 1^st festivities at the Constellation in the ski resort of Crans-Montana.

The French nationals are being questioned by prosecutors constantly, and leaked interview records point to them saying: ‘‘It’s not us, it’s the others’’, Le Parisien reported on Tuesday.

The Moretti’s defence strategy during some 20 hours of interrogation by three prosecutors was – in particular – to blame waitress Cyane Panine, 24, for getting on to the shoulders of a colleague while brandishing two champagne bottles with lit sparklers inside.

Cyane, who died in the fire, was wearing a promotional crash helmet, and did not see the pyrotechnics lighting up the bar’s basement ceiling, which was covered in highly inflammable foam.

Referring to the champagne sparklers stunt – which was filmed – Jacques Moretti told the enquiry that it was ‘Cyane’s show.’

‘‘I didn’t forbid her from doing that,’’ he told prosecutors, adding: ‘‘I didn’t make her pay attention to safety instructions. We didn’t see the danger. Cyane liked doing that – it was a show, she liked to be part of the show.’’

Jessica Moretti, who was at the same hearing on January 20^th, said: ‘‘Cyane liked to deliver these bottles – she did it of her own accord.

‘‘If I had thought there was the slightest risk, I would have forbidden it. In 10 years of running the business, I never thought there could be any danger.’’ The family of Cyane, also a French national, are among those who have vehemently denied the Moretti’s claims, and they are supported by witnesses who survived the blaze.

They say it was Jessica Moretti, the manager on the night, who sent Cyane out with the bottles, and encouraged her to perform the stunt using a helmet provided by Dom Perignon, the champagne house.