Fire in built environment

A bartender who works at the Swiss ski resort where a horrific fire killed 40 people has claimed that an emergency exit at the scene of the blaze was always locked. Andrea, 31, works elsewhere in Crans-Montana, but said he was a regular at Le Constellation, where 119 people were also injured in the fire. He told German daily, Bild, there was an emergency exit, but whenever he was there, "it was always locked".Authorities in Switzerland have launched a criminal investigation into bar managers Jacques Moretti, 49, and his wife Jessica, 40. The pair are suspected of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm and arson. The blaze broke out at around 1.30am on Thursday at the bar in the Alpine resort town. Police have said many were in their teens to mid-20s.Shocking footage shared widely on social media showed flames spreading across a ceiling at the bar, but revellers continued to party.Andrea told Bild: "There was an entrance that also served as an exit. And there was an emergency exit. But whenever I was there, it was always locked. Everyone in town knew things were bound to go wrong eventually."The emergency exit was in a separate smoking room. Hardly anyone used it - most went up to the conservatory. The smoking room was used as a kind of storage room. There was a sofa inside in front of the door, and carelessly discarded objects lay outside."Grigori was on his way to the bar when the fire started. His friend is among the missing. He said there was another exit at the bar, but he believed it was being locked because some people were leaving the bar without paying.Authorities plan to investigate whether the sound-dampening material on the ceiling met regulations and whether candles were permitted in the bar. Witnesses have described seeing staff at the venue carrying Champagne bottles topped with the burning sparklers.Officials said they will also look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes.The Valais region’s top security official, Stéphane Ganzer, told SRF public radio on Saturday that such a huge accident meant something didn’t work, "maybe the material, maybe the organisation on the spot".He added: "Something didn’t work and someone made a mistake. I am sure of that."Nicolas Féraud, who heads the Crans-Montana municipality, told RTS radio he was "convinced" checks on the bar hadn’t been lax.Asked whether the tragedy could have been avoided, Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans replied officials could not yet answer, but know the world needs an answer to the question.The severity of burns has made it difficult to identify the dead and injured, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples.In some cases, wallets and any identification documents inside were turned to ash.Regional police on Saturday said the bodies of four victims — a boy and a girl, both 16, an 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, all of them Swiss — had been identified and handed over to their families.Laetitia Brodard, whose 16-year-old son, Arthur, went to Le Constellation to celebrate the New Year, held out hope he might be one of the injured people who still haven't been identified.She said: "I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere. I want to know where my child is and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue."On Saturday, she told French broadcaster BFM TV that "parents are starting to get tired... and anger is starting to rise."Elvira Venturella, an Italian psychologist working with the families, said: "It’s a wait that destroys people’s stability. The more time passes, the more difficult it becomes to accept the uncertainty, not having information."Swiss officials said on Friday that 119 people were injured and 113 had been formally identified.Police have said the injured include more than 70 Swiss nationals and over 10 each from France and Italy, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland.