SION, Switzerland, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Swiss prosecutors summoned on Friday the owners of a ski resort bar where a fire on New Year's Day killed 40 people, amid growing criticism that the couple is still
at large.
The prosecutors are investigating the French owners on suspicion of crimes including homicide by negligence, while victims' families have filed legal complaints over the blaze at the "Le Constellation" bar in the town of Crans-Montana.
With six Italians among the dead, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for tough punishment of all those responsible for the tragedy.
The owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, did not answer reporters' questions as they entered the prosecutors' office in the nearby town of Sion on Friday, which Swiss authorities have designated a national day of mourning.
The couple have expressed their grief over the fire and said they would cooperate fully with the investigation. More than half of the 40 people killed in the blaze were teenagers and a further 116 people were injured, many of them seriously.
"We are devastated and overcome with grief, our thoughts are constantly with the victims, their loved ones who have been bereaved so brutally and prematurely, and all those who are fighting for their lives," they said in a January 6 statement.
Prosecutors said last weekend that the legal criteria to detain the couple had so far not been met.
SPARKLING CANDLES BELIEVED TO BE CAUSE OF FIRE
Witnesses and prosecutors have said the blaze appeared to have been started by the use of sparkling candles that set foam soundproofing on the basement ceiling alight.
Questions remain about oversight at the bar, which the local mayor admitted this week had missed multiple safety checks.
Twenty-one of the dead were from Switzerland, seven from France, and six from Italy. There was also a Swiss-French dual national and a French-British-Israeli national.
The presidents of France and Italy are expected to attend Friday's ceremony in the nearby town of Martigny to mark the tragedy and remember the victims.
Speaking in Rome on Friday, Italy's Meloni pledged to assist the families of the Italian victims in their quest for justice, and said she was considering introducing in Italy a ban on the use of sparklers in indoor spaces.
"What happened in Crans-Montana is the result of too many people not doing their job or thinking they were making easy money. Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted," she said in her annual press conference.
In Crans-Montana, authorities placed hundreds of letters, teddy bears and bouquets of flowers for the fire victims beneath an igloo to protect them from snowfall. Some shops closed and placed commemorative posters in their windows.
"There's still anger behind all of this. It shouldn't have happened. My daughters went to that bar; it was young, it was lively, it was inexpensive. But clearly, there were some serious shortcomings," said 65-year-old Frenchman Emmanuel Guian who has skied in Crans-Montana for decades.
(Reporting by Cecile Mantovani in Sion, Emma Farge in Geneva and Dave Graham in Zurich, additional reporting by Umit Bektas in Crans Montana.Editing by Gareth Jones)
