The grieving parents of a waitress, held responsible for igniting a catastrophic fire in a Swiss nightclub, have criticized the venue’s proprietors, alleging that their cost-cutting measures were pivotal in the tragic event that claimed 40 lives, including that of their daughter.
Cyane Panine, aged 24, perished in the conflagration after a fire erupted at the crowded establishment. Video evidence shows her perched on a colleague’s shoulders, brandishing two champagne bottles adorned with sparklers.
The footage captures the fire swiftly spreading across the ceiling, rapidly consuming the interior of the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
In the wake of the disaster, Cyane’s parents, Astrid and Jerôme, lashed out at the nightclub’s owners. They accused them of sealing an emergency exit to stop partygoers from entering without paying a €1,000 table fee, instead of investing in additional security personnel.
During an interview with French broadcaster France 3 Occitanie, Astrid criticized the financial decisions made by the bar’s owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, suggesting these choices had fatal consequences.
“Jacques had closed the emergency exit because he feared people would sneak in without paying,” she stated.
‘The tables cost 1,000 euros. And if you can’t even put a guard at that door… If the door had been open, maybe there wouldn’t have been any deaths.’
The couple said that Cyane was carried unconscious to a bar across the street after the fire.
The parents of a young waitress blamed for starting the deadly Swiss nightclub inferno have hit out at the venue’s owners, accusing them of cost-cutting decisions they say contributed to the deaths of 40 people, including their daughter, Cyane Panine (pictured)
Cyane Panine, 24, was killed in the blaze after fire broke out at the packed club, with footage showing her sitting on a colleague’s shoulders holding two champagne bottles fitted with sparklers
High quality photographs show the very first moments of the Swiss Constellation Bar fire in Crans-Montana
Owners of Le Constellation bar Jacques Moretti (L) and Jessica Moretti (C) arrive for a hearing at the Office of the public prosecutor of the Canton of Valais, in Sion, on January 9, 2026
‘She was unconscious, but still alive,’ Astrid said. ‘They tried to resuscitate her for forty minutes. To no avail.’
Cyane was buried on Saturday in the French port city of Sète.
Her parents said they are now trying to come to terms with their loss together, while demanding accountability for those they believe were responsible.
‘She was a ray of sunshine for everyone,’ Jerôme said. ‘For us, the sun didn’t rise again in 2026. There’s a time for sadness and a time for anger. I think the anger will quickly take over.’
Astrid and Jerôme recounted last week how Cyane, who they viewed as ‘a stepdaughter’ suffocated ‘in a pile of bodies behind a locked door’.
According to interrogation transcripts seen by Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, the owners clearly identified the deceased 24-year-old in photos taken during the incident.
Providing a detailed account of the disaster, Jacques and Jessica Moretti said Cyane’s last minutes alive encapsulated the full horror of the evening.
She had been encouraged by Ms Moretti, 40, to ‘get the atmosphere going’ at Le Constellation, in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana, in the early hours of January.
The pyrotechnics are thought to have accidentally lit soundproofing foam in the ceiling, triggering a massive fire
This included getting waitresses to put sparklers in champagne bottles, before some were lifted up on the shoulders of waiters in the bar’s basement.
The pyrotechnics are thought to have accidentally lit soundproofing foam in the ceiling, triggering a massive fire in which 116 others were also severely burned.
Mr Moretti, 49, eventually broke open the door to the basement from the outside, and found Cyane dying, while surrounded by ‘a pile of bodies’.
On Friday, Mr Moretti told the Vallais public prosecutor’s office in nearby Sion he only became aware the bar’s ‘service door’ was ‘locked from the inside and on a latch’ after the fire.
Meanwhile Mr Moretti’s wife is said to have driven herself home, after allegedly escaping as quickly as possible from the bar with the till containing the night’s cash takings.
Mr Moretti is currently in custody, while his wife has been bailed with an electronic bracelet, as they await possible trial on a range of charges, including manslaughter and causing bodily harm by negligence.
Referring to Cyane in a day-long interview by prosecutors on Friday, Mr Moretti said she was the girlfriend of a close family friend whom the Morettis had ‘raised as if he were my own’.
Recalling how he found Cyane dying, Mr Moretti said: ‘I went out onto the patio [behind the bar] All the windows were open.
‘There were a lot of people there. I tried to get inside but it was impossible. There was far too much smoke.’
Pointing to the ‘service door’ rather than an exit, Mr Moretti said it was ‘closed and locked from the inside with a latch, whereas it usually wasn’t.
‘We forced it open – it finally gave way in a few seconds. When the door opened, several people were lying on the floor, unconscious.
‘My stepdaughter Cyane was one of them. We pulled them all outside and put them in the recovery position.’
Mr Moretti said he and Cyane’s boyfriend, ‘tried to resuscitate her for more than an hour in the street near the bar, until the emergency services told us it was too late’.
Cyane, a French national like the Morettis, died within the hour.
The family of the deceased woman issued a statement through their lawyers, Tages-Anzeiger reported.
It reads: ‘Whatever the investigation reveals, this young woman followed her employers’ instructions. She did what was asked of her by the managing director. This was nothing unusual. (…) This young employee bears no responsibility whatsoever.’
