Managers under criminal investigation over fatal bar fire
· RTE.ieSwiss prosecutors have said they have placed under criminal investigation the two managers of a bar where a blaze on New Year's Day killed at least 40 people.
The offences they are suspected of having committed are homicide by negligence, causing bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, the prosecutors' office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Swiss police have said they had identified the bodies of four Swiss victims, including two minors, of the New Year bar fire tragedy in Crans-Montana.
Valais canton police said investigators had identified the remains of a Swiss woman of 21, a man of 18, as well as a girl of 16 and a boy of 16.
Police added the bodies had been returned to their families as efforts continue to identify the other victims.
Forty people are known to have died in the blaze at a packed bar in the ski resort with 119 revellers injured.
Dozens of people badly burnt in the fire early on Thursday in the Alpine town were taken to nearby countries for urgent treatment, while authorities pointed the finger at lit sparklers attached to champagne bottles igniting foam on the ceiling.
People continued to bring flowers, candles and messages today to a makeshift memorial near the scene of the tragedy at Le Constellation bar, where people have often simply stood in stunned silence.
The disaster has left Switzerland reeling, with families of the overwhelmingly young partygoers waiting for news of their loved ones. Most of the 119 people wounded in the fire remained in a serious condition.
Many of those injured were foreign nationals, and given Crans-Montana's international popularity, non-Swiss citizens are also widely expected to figure among the dead.
Among those bracing for the worst was Laetitia Brodard, who said that the last text she received from her son, Arthur, was "Mother, Happy New Year, I love you".
"It's been 40 hours. Forty hours since our children have disappeared. So we should know by now," she told journalists yesterday near the memorial.
The exact number of people who were at Le Constellation when it went up in flames remains unclear.
The Crans-Montana website said the venue had a capacity of 300 people plus 40 on its terrace.
But the chief prosecutor of the Wallis region, Beatrice Pilloud, said that the standards were among the focuses of the investigation.
Ms Pilloud told reporters yesterday that the leading hypothesis was that "sparklers or Bengal candles attached to champagne bottles and lifted too close to the ceiling" had ignited the deadly blaze.
One video showed the low wooden ceiling - covered with soundproofing foam - catching alight and the flames spreading quickly, but revellers continuing to dance, unaware of the death trap they were in.
Once they realised, panic set in.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos as people tried to break through the windows to escape, while others, covered in burns, poured out into the street. Nathan, who had been in the bar before the fire, saw burnt people streaming out of the site.
Of the injured, police chief Gisler said that 71 were Swiss, 14 were French, 11 were Italian, and four were from Serbia, along with victims from Bosnia, Belgium, Poland, Portugal and Luxembourg.
Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, leaving an agonising wait for family and friends, while desperate appeals to find those missing circulated online.
Several memorial masses for the victims are planned, including one this evening in Crans-Montana.