Police identify 16 more victims of Swiss bar fire

The bodies of 16 other victims of a bar fire in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana have been identified by police.

The youngest person was a 14-year-old Swiss woman, nine of whom were under 18. The group includes people of Swiss, Italian, Romanian, Turkish and French nationalities, police said.

This brings to 24 the number of identified people who were killed as a result of the fire, authorities said in a statement. Eight Swiss citizens were identified on Saturday.

A criminal investigation against the managers of the Constellation bar is underway, while the families of the victims anxiously await information on their loved ones still considered missing.

Police said no further details would be released about the victims they had identified, out of respect for their loved ones.

Sparklers on bottles being carried too close to the ceiling is likely the cause of the fire at the bar during New Year’s Eve celebrations, according to a preliminary investigation.

The devastating fire killed at least 40 people and injured 119 others.

Most of the dead and missing are teenagers. Constellation was a venue known to be popular with a younger crowd in the ski resort, where the minimum drinking age is 16.

The eight people identified and returned to their families on Saturday were all aged 16 to 24, Swiss authorities said.

On Saturday, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, said the identification process was slow due to the severity of the burns suffered by many victims.

The French couple who own the bar – named by the media as Jacques and Jessica Moretti – are suspected of negligent manslaughter, negligent bodily harm and negligent arsonindicated the Valais public prosecutor’s office.

Béatrice Pilloud, chief prosecutor for the canton of Valais, said in a statement that investigators were looking into whether the acoustic foam on the ceiling of the room was “at the origin of the problem”, as well as “if it complied with regulations”.

Italian media named junior golfer Emanuele Galeppini16 years old, as the first identified victim of the fire following a statement from the Italian Golf Federation paying tribute to the “young athlete who carried with him passion and authentic values”.

His father reportedly said his son was at Constellation. A spokesperson for the Italian Foreign Ministry previously told the BBC it would not confirm the death.