The Swiss bar that caught fire during a New Year’s celebration and killed 40 people had not been inspected since 2019, officials have said.
The Crans-Montana mayor, Nicolas Feraud, apologised at a news conference, and said that all sparkler candles, which were blamed for the fire, have now been banned inside venues.
“We are profoundly sorry,” he told reporters. “We did not have an indication that the checks had not been done.”
The incident at Le Constellation bar on New Year’s Day also injured a total of 116, of whom more than two-thirds are still in hospital.
In a statement on Tuesday, the municipality of Crans-Montana said it “deeply regrets” discovering “a failure to carry out periodic inspections” at the site for the period between 2020 and 2025.
Mr Feraud added that authorities have closed another venue run by the managers of Le Constellation, who, according to the Valais region’s chief prosecutor, are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing a fire.
A 2019 fire report of the venue did not mention problems, the mayor then said, adding that security considered the soundproof foam used in the bar to be acceptable at the time.
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