We didn’t know if he was dead”: the cousin of Noa, 14, the youngest French victim in Crans-Montana, denounces the authorities’ silence

Noa, 14, is the youngest victim of the deadly fire that broke out on New Year’s Eve in a bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Speaking on RTL this Tuesday, January 6, his cousin Mélissia condemned the silence of the authorities during the tragedy.

Noa, 14, died in the bar fire in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve. He was the youngest victim.


Credit: Screenshot / FC Sochaux

RTL DOCUMENT – “He suffocated”: the cousin of Noa, 14, the youngest French victim of the Crans-Montana fire, speaks out

The 40 people killed and 116 injured in the New Year’s Eve fire at the “Le Constellation” bar in Crans-Montana have all now been identified. Among the victims were nine French nationals trapped by the flames. One of them was Noa Thévenot El Kaim Billah, 14, the youngest victim of the fire.

This Tuesday, January 6, his cousin Mélissia decided to speak publicly on RTL. “Noa’s father identified his body late yesterday afternoon (Monday). Apparently, his body was not badly damaged. He likely suffocated. He was found seated at a table with his friends.”

Originally from the Franche-Comté region, Noa was on holiday in Crans-Montana with his father. On New Year’s Eve, the teenager spent the evening on his own with friends. On RTL, his cousin explained that she had received messages from him until around 1 a.m. “Then, after the fire alarm went off, there was no more news. Noa was nowhere to be found,” she recalled.

“No one was saying anything. We didn’t know if he was alive…”

This Tuesday, Mélissia denounced on RTL the silence of the authorities during the search. “We spent four incredibly intense days looking for him everywhere, doing everything possible to find him. It was horrible. No one was saying anything. We didn’t know if he was alive, if he had been burned, if he was in a coma, or if he was dead. The authorities gave us absolutely no information. I received no response at all from the French authorities, despite the hundreds of calls I made.”

A passionate football lover, Noa played before his death for Lancy FC, a club in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. “Noa was a great athlete. He played for several clubs, especially in Franche-Comté, in Besançon. And this little boy… we would have so wanted him to be protected. It’s terrible, it’s terrible,” his cousin continued, visibly emotional.

His father, Xavier Thévenot, is a member of the supervisory board of FC Sochaux. On Monday, the club paid tribute to Noa on its X (formerly Twitter) account. “In these moments of indescribable suffering, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard wishes to extend its sincerest thoughts and full support to the family of Noa Thévenot El Kaim Billah, to his loved ones, and to all those affected by this tragedy.”

On Tuesday evening, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened an investigation into the deadly fire in order to “support French families in the investigations being carried out by the Swiss authorities.”