Fire bar owner found waitress under bodies

THE owner of the Swiss bar where 40 people died in a New Year's blaze has told how he tried to save a waitress he treated like family after finding her in a pile of bodies.

- BY DAN WARBURTON

In the most detailed account of the disaster, Jacques Moretti and wife Jessica said Cyane Panine's final moments encapsulated the full horror of the evening.

The 24-year-old had been encouraged by Ms Moretti, 40, to “get the atmosphere going” at Le Constellation, in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, early on January 1. This included getting waitresses to put sparklers in champagne bottles, before some were lifted up on the shoulders of waiters.

Smashed

The pyrotechnics are thought to have set light to soundproofing foam in the basement's ceiling, triggering a massive fire, which also left 116 with severe burns.