Swiss bar in deadly blaze missed five years of safety checks
After admitting a lack of safety checks, Crans-Montana mayor says ‘we are profoundly sorry’ as prosecutors open criminal probe into bar’s managers
Swiss local authorities admitted on Tuesday that fire safety inspections had not been carried out for the past five years at a bar where 40 people died and dozens were injured in a New Year’s blaze.
“We are profoundly sorry. We did not have an indication that the checks had not been done,” Crans-Montana Mayor Nicolas Feraud told reporters.
“Although more than 1,400 fire inspections were carried out in the municipality in 2025 alone, the municipal council deeply regrets discovering that this establishment had failed to undergo periodic inspections between 2020 and 2025.”
“We regret this bitterly,” he said, adding that it will be up to judicial authorities to determine what influence that may have had on the chain of events that led to the fire.
Feraud said he couldn’t immediately explain why safety inspections hadn’t been conducted for such a long time.
He said that, in September last year, an external expert had been asked to carry out a soundproofing analysis and had concluded that the bar complied with anti-noise rules, without making further remarks.