Second Crans-Montana safety official charged in Swiss blaze probe

Geneva: Prosecutors investigating the New Year inferno that killed 40 people in Swiss ski resort town Crans Montana have opened a criminal investigati...

Geneva: Prosecutors investigating the New Year inferno that killed 40 people in Swiss ski resort town Crans-Montana have opened a criminal investigation against a second local safety official, AFP learned Thursday.

The French couple who owned the establishment that went up in flames around early on January 1 were initially the only ones targeted by a criminal probe in the tragedy, which also left 116 people injured -- most of them teenagers.

But since Wednesday, the investigation has expanded to include two security officials in Crans-Montana, where local authorities sparked outrage earlier this month when they revealed that the required annual safety check of the Le Constellation had not been carried out since 2019.

Public prosecutors believe the fire started when revellers raised bottles with sparklers attached too close to sound insulation foam on the basement ceiling.

The municipality's current head of public safety is due to be questioned, as a defendant, by public prosecutors in the southwestern Swiss canton of Wallis on February 6, according to a source close to the case who did not wish to be named.