Police and hearses near the Le Constellation bar that burned down on New Year's Eve in Crans-Montana. Photo: Jean-Christophe Bott / AP / Profimedia
The owners of the bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, where a fire broke out on New Year's Eve, in which about 40 people died and 115 were injured, according to the latest count, are a French couple, according to AFP sources.
According to the commercial register of the Swiss canton of Valais, the bar “Le Constellation” has been owned since 2015 by a couple presented as French citizens.
This information, originally revealed by the French newspaper Corse-Matin, was confirmed to France Presse by a friend of the couple, Jean-Thomas Filippini, who also said that the two owners of the bar are alive.
Jean-Thomas Filippini said that he received, on New Year's Eve, a video of the restaurant. “I tried to contact my friends all night. My wife answered at around 5am, saying I was alive and it was a catastrophe,” he said.
“People were running, screaming and crying.” Witnesses of the tragedy in Switzerland say they saw hell. What is known so far about the fire with dozens of deaths that reminds of Colectiv – PHOTO/VIDEO
The Corsican artist Jean-Thomas Filippini met the owners of the restaurant in 2015, when he came with his band “I Vagabondi” to play in the Swiss bar, right from December 31.
The singer and the couple who own the bar have remained friends ever since. “When they come back to Corsica, we try to see each other. They come when they can, because they are very hardworking,” explained the singer.
The French couple also owns a bar-restaurant and an inn in the Crans-Montana area
According to Corse-Matin, he is originally from Ghisonaccia in Haute-Corse. And according to Nice-Matin, she is originally from the Côte d'Azur.
The couple also own two other establishments, according to the Valais canton's commercial register: Le Senso, a bar-restaurant specializing in hamburgers in the Crans-Montana resort, and Le Vieux-Chalet in the neighboring village of Lens, which bills itself as a “Corsican inn.”
On Thursday, around 1:30 a.m., a fire of unknown origin broke out in the Le Constellation bar, frequented by many tourists, according to the police of the canton of Valais.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire, but the hypothesis of an attack is excluded, the cantonal authorities indicated.
According to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two French people were injured in the fire which, according to the latest Swiss police report, left about 40 dead and about 115 injured, most of them seriously.
