Owner of Swiss bar where deadly New Year’s fire killed 40 detained by prosecutors: officials
Prosecutors on Friday arrested the owner of a Swiss bar where a deadly New Year’s Day fire killed 40 people and injured 116 others, authorities said.
Jacques Moretti was remanded in custody after a meeting with prosecutors in Sion, according to the prosecutor’s office in the Swiss region of Valais.
The fire ripped through Le Constellation, a popular bar in the resort town of Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, early on January 1.
The owners of the bar “Le Constellation” Jacques Moretti and Jessica Moretti arrive at a hearing at the prosecutor’s office of the canton of Valais in Sion on January 9, 2026. The French couple, accused of homicide by negligence, bodily injury by negligence and arson by negligence, have been summoned for questioning after 40 people, most of them teenagers, died, while 116 were injured in a fire that destroyed a bar in the luxurious alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
Moretti’s wife and business partner, Jessica Moretti, also attended the meeting but was not detained, according to the office. She was present at the bar during the fire and suffered burns to her arm.
“My constant thoughts are with the victims and with those struggling today. This is an unimaginable tragedy,” Moretti told reporters outside the prosecutor’s office.
In this screenshot from a video provided by the Valais Cantonal Police, emergency workers respond to a scene where a fire broke out overnight at the Le Constellation bar, on January 1, 2026, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
Valais cantonal police via Getty Images
The bar had not been inspected in the past five years, Swiss officials said at a news conference earlier this week.
“There was a culture of reckless risk-taking,” said Nicolas Féraud, municipal head of Crans-Montana, at a news conference earlier this week. “This put customers and staff in danger,” he said.
Féraud claimed that the municipal government “never received any alert” about problems at the bar. He also confirmed that there was an emergency exit in the basement, but could not say whether it was open, closed or locked.
Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at Le Constellation bar and lounge during the New Year celebration, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on January 1, 2026.
Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP
The fire, of “undetermined origin”, occurred in the bar around 1:30 a.m. local time on January 1, the Valais cantonal police said in a statement at the time of the fire.
On January 2, the Valais attorney general told reporters that investigators are “pursuing several hypotheses” based on the evidence they have gathered.
“We currently assume that the fire was caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles that were too close to the ceiling,” he told a news conference.
