Swiss authorities detain owner of bar where New Year’s fire killed 40

Switzerland holds national day of mourning to remember victims of deadly fire in ski resort town of Crans-Montana.

Swiss prosecutors have requested that one of the owners of a bar where a massive New Year’s Eve fire killed 40 people and injured dozens be placed in pre-trial detention.

The Valais region’s chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement on Friday that the detention of the man, Jacques Moretti, was needed to avoid a “risk of flight”.

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Moretti’s wife and co-manager, Jessica Moretti, will remain free under judicial supervision, the statement said.

Authorities have been investigating the owners of La Constellation bar in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana on suspicion of crimes, including homicide by negligence.

Under Swiss law, a person is held in custody until a court rules within 48 hours on whether their detention is warranted.

Moretti’s detention comes as Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday for the victims of the blaze, pausing for a minute of silence before church bells rang out across the country.

An official ceremony to commemorate the victims, held in the town of Martigny, was attended by about 1,000 people, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

Macron, left, and Mattarella walk with white roses during the ceremony in Martigny, Switzerland, on January 9, 2026 [Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via AP Photo]

“Our country is devastated by this tragedy,” Swiss President Guy Parmelin said at the ceremony.

“We honour the memory of those who were lost, and we stand beside those now facing a long journey of recovery,” he said.

More than half of those who were killed in the fire in the early hours of New Year’s Day were teenagers, while another 116 people were injured.

Several French and Italian citizens were among the dead, and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for stern punishment to be meted out to those responsible for the blaze.

‘Everything is different’

Meanwhile, about 1,400 people gathered at the Crans-Montana congress centre to attend a livestreaming of the official Martigny event.

A memorial erected outside the bar has been covered in a white, igloo-like tarpaulin to protect it from heavy snowfall.

“Everything is different now,” a French woman in her 30s who works seasonally in Crans-Montana and who did not want to give her name told the AFP news agency on Friday.

“Before, this place was all smiles. Now, there are no more smiles here,” she said.

Swiss prosecutors have said they believe the deadly fire started when sparklers attached to champagne bottles were raised too close to sound insulation foam on the ceiling in the bar’s basement section.

A member of the civil protection service holds a white rose during the official ceremony in Martigny on January 9, 2026 [Michael Buholzer/Pool via Reuters]

Local authorities said on Tuesday that the bar had not undergone a safety inspection since 2019, drawing outrage.

In a statement this week, the bar owners pledged their “full cooperation” with investigators.

“We are devastated and overcome with grief, our thoughts are constantly with the victims, their loved ones who have been bereaved so brutally and prematurely, and all those who are fighting for their lives,” they said.

In his speech at the ceremony on Friday, Parmelin, the Swiss president, said hope “depends on our justice system’s ability to bring failures to light and to impose consequences without delay or leniency”.

“This is a moral responsibility as well as a duty of the state,” he said.