Nicolas Féraud says he does not know why bar in Crans-Montana had not been inspected annually, as required by law

Authorities in Crans-Montana have said safety officers had not inspected the bar that caught fire in the Swiss ski resort on New Year’s Eve, killing 40 mainly young partygoers and injuring more than 100, for the past five years.

“Periodic inspections were not conducted between 2020 and 2025. We bitterly regret this,” the mayor of the town, Nicolas Féraud, told a press conference in the town on Tuesday, five days after the disaster at Le Constellation bar.

Bodies of first foreign victims repatriated after 40 people died in fire at New Year’s Eve party in Crans-Montana

All 116 people injured in the fire that tore through a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana during a New Year’s Eve party, killing 40 mostly young partygoers, have been identified, police have said, as the bodies of the first foreign victims were repatriated.

Police in Valais canton said in a statement on Monday they had revised the number of wounded down from 119 because three people admitted to accident and emergency wards on Thursday morning had been wrongly recorded as injured in the blaze.