THE couple who ran the Swiss resort bar where 40 people were killed have been accused of destroying evidence by blocking social media accounts in the aftermath of the devastating blaze.

Jacques, 49, and Jessica Moretti, 40, are suspected of manslaughter by negligence after allegations of insufficient safety standards emerged following the fatal New Year’s Eve inferno.

Tributes in Crans-Montana in honor of the victims of New Year's Day bar fire
The owners of Le Constellation are accused of disabling their social media accounts during rescue operationsCredit: EPA

A man and a woman embracing and smiling.
Jacques Moretti, 49, bought the bar with his 40-year-old wife Jessica Moretti in 2015Credit: X

People holding champagne bottles with sparklers and a vodka bottle in a dark room.
Sparklers were held up shortly before the fire as the cladding begins to burn on the ceiling
Collage of a news headline and photo of emergency services at a ski resort, a map of Europe highlighting Switzerland, and a detailed map of the Crans-Montana area in Switzerland showing the location of Le Constellation Bar and Lounge.

Romain Jordan, a lawyer representing some of the 116 injured – many teenagers left with catastrophic burns – has claimed that the Le Constellation bar suspended its Facebook and Instagram accounts while rescue operations were ongoing.

He told The Times that the accounts were blocked between “3am and 6.30am”, adding: “It’s curious that while the emergency operation was under way, someone was thinking about this.”

 

 

He claimed that the venue had been advertising its New Year festivities prior to suspensions and said: “They showed how the bar was, and [the suspension] shows that the question of security came to the managers’ minds straight away.”

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The blaze broke out at 1.30am after sparklers fixed to champagne bottles set fire to flammable acoustic foam on the ceiling.

 

 

 

An ex-firefighter claimed the material was “essentially the same” as the cladding used on Grenfell Tower.

Images from before the tragic fire show a bartender in a crash helmet holding a lit sparkler aloft while on the shoulders of another employee wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.

An inferno engulfed the basement nightclub within minutes in what is known as a “flashover” fire, where all combustible materials in a room ignite simultaneously.

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Partygoers trapped inside the bar were left with only a narrow staircase leading up to the main exit.

 

 

Two employees claim that fire extinguishers were often locked away and the venue’s emergency exit door was often bolted shut.

Known only as Maxime and Sarah, the former staff said that fire safety training at the bar in Crans Montana, Switzerland, had been “dicey”.

Maxime told BFM: “I always said that if waitresses held up sparklers and they came into contact [with the ceiling], everything could go up in flames.

“There was definitely a risk and the safety measures were a bit dicey … staff weren’t briefed on fire safety and the emergency exit was sometimes blocked or locked.”

The Crans-Montana council further admitted that the bar had not undergone its annual safety inspection for over five years.

Local president Nicolas Féraud admitted the failure, saying “we bitterly regret this” and adding “there’s no question of shirking our responsibilities” in the ongoing investigation.

Jordan has also called on prosecutors to dig into the council’s failings and told The Times that they had been reluctant to highlight its dysfunctional fire safety.

He said: “My clients want answers.