The proprietors of the Swiss nightclub where a catastrophic fire claimed many lives on New Year’s Eve have expressed their deep distress, stating they are unable to “sleep or eat” in the wake of the disaster. Investigators are currently considering filing manslaughter charges.

The blaze erupted around 1:30 am local time (12:30 am GMT) on Thursday, originating in the basement of ‘Le Constellation,’ a popular spot nestled in the heart of Crans-Montana, a picturesque Alpine town in the Valais canton.

The fire rapidly engulfed the venue, which was bustling with international visitors, turning it into a deadly inferno that resulted in numerous fatalities.

Authorities have confirmed that at least 40 individuals lost their lives, with an additional 119 suffering injuries, predominantly severe third-degree burns. While Swiss officials reported 40 deaths, Italian sources indicated the toll could be as high as 47.

Families are enduring an excruciating wait, desperately searching the resort for their missing family members. Among the missing is Charlotte Niddam, a British-educated teenager and former student of Immanuel College, a private Jewish institution in Hertfordshire.

The Daily Mail earlier revealed the owners of Le Constellation to be French couple Jacques Moretti, 49, and his wife Jessica, 40, who was inside the bar when the blaze broke out and suffered burns to her arm.

Mr Moretti, who was not in the venue, has now spoken out for the first time since the blaze, telling Swiss outlet 20 Minuten: ‘We can neither sleep nor eat, we are all very unwell.’

The bar owner also defended the safety of the nightclub after it emerged the venue was fitted with wooden furnishings and foam-style ceiling material and had only one narrow staircase for revellers trying to escape. 

Mr Moretti claimed that the club had been inspected three times in the past 10 years, adding: ‘Everything had been done according to regulation.’ 

He emphasised the couple – known as powerful figures in the Swiss hospitality industry – are cooperating with authorities, adding: ‘We will do everything we can to help clarify the causes. We are doing everything in our power. Our lawyers are also involved.’

The couple have already been questioned by authorities and may face manslaughter charges, according to Beatrice Pilloud, the attorney general for the Valais region.  

Pilloud said: ‘We assume that the fire originated from sparklers attached to champagne bottles. From there, the ceiling caught fire. 

‘We are also looking at what materials were used. The issue of emergency exits, fire extinguishers, and the bar’s occupancy is also being investigated.’

She added: ‘Our investigation also includes the foam on the ceiling.

‘It is still unclear whether any individuals will face criminal charges. However, it is possible that an investigation for negligent homicide will be initiated.’ 

She declined to comment on whether any action would be taken to prevent the couple from fleeing Switzerland, stating: ‘There is currently no criminal liability.’

Stéphane Ganzer, the state councillor in charge of security in Valais, said he wasn’t aware of any safety deficiencies in the club, but admitted: ‘I don’t know when the municipality carried out the inspections. We haven’t received any reports of deficiencies. However, we assume that the inspections were conducted.’  

Pilloud said a team of 30 are involved in the investigation, though the priority for authorities ‘remains identifying the deceased so that the families can begin their grieving process.’

Chief Inspector Pierre-Antoine Lengen said at the same press conference that another 30 people are involved in the identification process for the victims, with everyone looking at victims’ DNA and dental records, as well as items they may have been carrying before they perished. 

But Lengen admitted that this process would take significant time and apologised to the families of those still waiting to hear of their loved ones’ fates.

As for those injured in the fire, Pilloud said the number of people affected may still go up, given that many of those in Le Constellation only checked themselves into hospital hours after the fire. 

Eric Bonvin, director of the Valais hospitals, said of those who were injured: ‘We are now in a delicate phase.’

He added that many of those hurt in the blaze ‘will require lengthy treatment and subsequent rehabilitation’, adding that this necessitated the international transfers of dozens of victims. 

One official said around 50 international transfers are set to take place on Sunday, with citizens of neighbouring countries being prioritised.  

Charlotte Niddam, who previously attended Immanuel College – a private Jewish school in Hertfordshire – is one of the two named people confirmed as missing

The schoolgirl, believed to be 15, has not been heard from since a fire tore through a packed bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, leaving nearly 50 people dead and another 115 injured.

A statement issued by Immanuel College confirmed Charlotte was missing. 

‘We are reaching out with an urgent request for our school community to come together in support of Charlotte Niddam,’ the statement read. 

‘Charlotte was a student at Immanuel College, and her family have now moved back to France. 

‘The families have asked that we all keep them in our thoughts and prayers during this extremely difficult time. We are all praying for a miracle for Charlotte and the others, and want the families to feel the full strength of the Immanuel College community’s support.’

Images of the missing teen were shared in a post on the Instagram account, @cransmontana.avisderecherche, set up to help locate survivors. 

The Instagram account said the teen was a babysitter, and that she visits the Alpine ski resort very often. 

Friends at her former UK school posted a series of pictures of Charlotte on TikTok. 

One friend called Mia wrote on the social platform: ‘My sweet sweet special Lottie I love you more than the meaning of life. I need my best friend I miss you.’

Another friend, Summer, posted a compilation of videos of the two pals together, captioning the post: ‘I miss my best friend @Charlotte niddam #CransMontana.’ 

Charlotte and her family lived in an affluent area close to Watford, Hertfordshire, before leaving the UK. 

The teenager was described by a former neighbour as ‘kind’ and ‘so clever.’

The couple who run the bar, who have a young son, opened Le Constellation in December 2015 after falling in love with the area when they visited for a week’s holiday in 2011.

The bar with an upstairs terrace and a basement club, featuring DJs and live music, became one of the most popular nightspots in the town with a clientele of mainly young and affluent winter sports fans and locals.

According to the Crans-Montana website, the bar offered an ‘elegant space’ and a ‘festive atmosphere’ with online descriptions of it being the ‘place to be’ and popular with an international crowd.

It’s understood that it is also one of few bars in the ski resort that allows revellers who are 16 and over inside rather than having to be 18. 

The bar’s success enabled Mr and Mrs Moretti to open up two other restaurants in the area, earning themselves a reputation as a hardworking and successful husband and wife team.  

Mrs Moretti was inside the club when the fire took hold and was said to have suffered burns to her arm while her husband was working at one of their other establishments. The couple are said to be ‘completely in shock’, according to sources.

It also emerged that social media pages for the club on Instagram and Facebook had been deleted early today, even while victims of the blaze were still being pulled out of the wreckage of the club.

Mr Moretti told how he opened Le Constellation which was in a previously abandoned building after doing much of the building work himself over nearly six months.

He and his wife first visited Crans-Montana in 2011, after he ‘heard about it from Swiss clients’, according to a local newspaper Le Nouvelliste. The article told how the couple fell in love with the resort and decided to build a business there. 

It added that they found Le Constellation in the centre of Crans up for sale and signed an agreement to take it over in June 2015.

They worked ‘relentlessly’ to prepare the club for opening, having to effectively to completely refit the bar as it had previously been ‘left exactly as it was.’

Describing his efforts to open the club, Mr Moretti told the newspaper: ‘I did almost everything myself. Look at these walls, there are 14 tons of dry stone, it comes from Saint-Léonard!’ 

He told how his bar served as ‘a showcase for Corsican products’, selling cured meats, wines, beers, myrtle liqueur, and even chestnut-flavoured whisky from the island, along with more local Swiss products.

Mr Moretti admitted to ‘feeling very much at home here’ in the Swiss resort, telling his local interviewer: ‘You know, we’re the same. We’re mountain people first and foremost. Stubborn, but above all, very kind.’

Another article in French-language Altitude magazine last year described Mr and Mrs Moretti as ‘brimming with energy’ and added: ‘Their slightly sing-song accent betrays their Corsican origins.’

The success of Le Constellation under the couple’s stewardship led to them opening a gourmet burger restaurant in Crans-Montana, called Senso in 2020, and a Corsican-style inn called Vieux Chalet in the nearby village of Lens in 2023.

This led to the couple drawing up plans to set up a Corsican festival in Lens, bringing in Corsican singers to perform concerts in a church and on an outdoor stage in the evening.

While Mr Moretti does not appear to have a visible social media presence, his wife has pages on Instagram as well as Facebook and a LinkedIn account which describes her as Propriétaire, or owner of their three businesses. 

Parents of missing youths have issued desperate pleas for news of ​their children, as foreign embassies scramble to work out if their nationals were among ​those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to befall modern Switzerland.

Police commander Frédéric Gisler said all bar six of the 119 injured have been formally identified, but Swiss officials are yet to share the names of any victims or injured. 

The injured included 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, according to Frédéric Gisler, police commander of the Valais region. 

The nationalities of 14 people were still unclear.

Six Italians are still missing and 13 hospitalised, while eight French people are missing and another nine are among the injured.

The first deceased victim to be named was 17-year-old Emanuele Galeppini, an Italian teenage golfer.

Guy Parmelin, the Swiss president, described the inferno as ‘one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced’ in that it ‘cut short many young lives’. 

Investigators said on Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a Swiss ski resort when they came too close to the ceiling of a bar crowded with New Year’s Eve revelers.

Authorities planned to look into whether the sound-dampening material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether sparklers were permitted for use in the bar. 

The candles, which give off a stream of upward-shooting sparks, were the same type that is commonly available for parties, officials said.  

Officials said they would also look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes.

Beatrice Pilloud, the attorney general for the Valais region, warned of possible prosecutions if any criminal liability is found.

Harrowing new video has emerged showing flames spreading across the ceiling of the Swiss bar with young revellers losing crucial seconds by filming the blaze instead of fleeing. 

The footage, taken by French economics student Ferdinand Du Beaudiez, shows flames ripping through the Crans-Montana club as revellers below continue singing, dancing and shouting, oblivious to the danger building above them. 

Moments before the fire, a waitress had been seen dancing and waving a lit sparkler beneath foam soundproofing panels on the ceiling, which then caught light.

Several people can be seen holding up their phones as the fire grows overhead, apparently unaware they are capturing the moments before disaster strikes. 

Some can be seen frantically trying to extinguish the inferno, but within seconds it took hold, erupting into a deadly fireball that engulfs the packed bar.

As the horror unfolded, Ferdinand escaped – then made the extraordinary decision to go back inside.

The brave student has now told how he re-entered the burning Le Constellation basement bar twice in a desperate attempt to save his brother and girlfriend, trying to pull bodies from the flames as chaos and smoke filled the venue.

He told how he found a badly burned person lying on the stairs and couldn’t even tell if it was a man or woman: ‘Their clothes were burned, I could only make out teeth.’

He recalled: ‘I tried to grab this person who was really heavy, but there was no tension in their arm. I just slid him on the ground, then the police and firemen took over from me.’