Switzerland declared Jan 9 a day of mourning, with church bells ringing nationwide at 2:00 pm
\n Crans-Montana
\nAuthorities investigating a New Year\u2019s blaze at a bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana have identified 24 of the 40 people killed, including 11 minors and six foreign nationals, police said Sunday, as its owners were probed for negligent manslaughter.
\nA heavy pall of grief hung over the town as hundreds of people walked in silence to a chapel of rest near the scene following a memorial service for the victims of an inferno which also left 119 people injured \u2014 many badly burned \u2014 and left the local community distraught.
\n\u201cThe world\u2019s media are focused on our resort. We thank them for seeking the compassion which the families of the injured and deceased so desperately need,\u201d said Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion during the service \u2014 one of a number planned.
\nSwitzerland has declared a national day of mourning for January 9, with all the church bells in the country poised to ring at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT). A moment of silence is also planned.
\n\u201cMany of the victims were apprentices, high school students, and university students,\u201d said Pastor Gilles Cavin, representing the Reformed Church of Switzerland at the memorial mass.
\nLocal police, who had already identified eight Swiss victims, earlier announced they had identified 10 more Swiss nationals \u2014 four women and six men aged 14 to 31, as well as two 16-year-old Italians, a 39-year-old Frenchman, a 16-year-old dual national of Italy and United Arab Emirates, an 18-year-old Romanian and an 18-year-old Turk.
\nThe fatalities identified to date include 11 minors.
\nWith Crans-Montana a popular destination for international tourists, many foreign nationals are among those hurt in the blaze.
\nThey include 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French \u2014 the French foreign ministry gave a tally of 16 on Saturday \u2014 11 Italians, four Serbs, a Belgian, a Bosnian, one person from Luxembourg and also a Pole and a Portuguese.
\nAt the memorial mass Pastor Cavin told a packed church that \u201cwe are here to say that in the face of the unspeakable, in the face of the brutality of death and suffering, we refuse to look away. We are here to express our compassion, our solidarity.\u201d
\nThe church, located some 300 metres (yards) from the bar, was packed well before the start of the mass, which was broadcast on a giant screen outside.
\nDespite temperatures dropping to -9\u00b0 Celsius, hundreds of people stood outside, some holding bouquets of flowers, others a single red rose.
\nRegarding the likely cause of the fire, authorities have pointed the finger at lit sparklers attached to champagne bottles igniting foam on the ceiling.
\nFrench couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti owned and managed Le Constellation bar, which was crammed with young partygoers when a blaze began in a packed basement at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) on Thursday.
\nA criminal investigation has been opened against the pair. They are charged with manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
\nInvestigations will focus on whether safety standards were respected.
\nJacques Moretti insisted to the Swiss press on Friday that all safety norms were followed at the bar, which according to the Crans-Montana website had a capacity of 300 people plus 40 on its terrace.
\nVideo footage which has emerged from the tragedy shows young people desperately trying to flee the scene, some breaking windows to try to force their way out.
\nOne video shared on social media showed the low wooden ceiling \u2014 covered with soundproofing foam \u2014 catching fire and the flames spreading quickly, as revellers continued to dance.
\nLooking at the images of the event, experts suggested the \u201chighly flammable\u201d foam may have caused a flashover \u2014 a near-simultaneous ignition of everything in an enclosed space.
\nThe mayor of Crans-Montana, Nicolas Feraud, assured Swiss public broadcaster RTS that there had been no negligence on the municipality\u2019s part.
\nFor Patricia Mazzoni, a 55-year-old Swiss on holiday in Crans-Montana, what happened is simply incomprehensible:
\n\u201cHow is this possible, especially in Switzerland? I never would have imagined it.
\n\u201cI\u2019m filled with a cold anger,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Switzerland declared Jan 9 a day of mourning, with church bells ringing nationwide at 2:00 pm Crans-Montana Authorities investigating a New Year\u2019s blaze at a bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana have identified 24 of the 40 people killed, including 11 minors and six foreign nationals, police said Sunday, as its owners were probed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-523841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n