In a tragic twist of fate, a waitress captured on film wearing a crash helmet and handling sparklers, which are believed to have ignited a deadly fire in a Swiss nightclub, was among the victims of the tragedy.
Cyane Panine, aged 24, was one of the 40 individuals who lost their lives in the catastrophic New Year’s Eve blaze. She has now been identified as the woman seen in the footage moments before the fire erupted, according to the publication 20minuten.
Images and videos depict Panine perched on a colleague’s shoulders, clutching two champagne bottles with sparklers attached, just before the club’s ceiling caught fire.
The proprietors of Le Constellation bar, located in Crans-Montana, shared last week that Cyane, whom they regarded as a “stepdaughter,” tragically suffocated amid a mass of bodies trapped behind a locked door.
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, referencing interrogation records, reported that the owners positively identified the 24-year-old victim from photographs captured during the incident.
Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the bar’s owners, provided a harrowing account of the disaster, emphasizing that Cyane Panine’s final moments vividly illustrated the chilling events of that night.
Cyane 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
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.
Cyane Panine, 24, was one of 40 people who died in the New Years Eve inferno
High quality photographs show the very first moments of the Swiss Constellation Bar fire in Crans-Montana
The pyrotechnics are thought to have 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’.
The pyrotechnics are thought to have lit soundproofing foam in the ceiling, triggering a massive fire in which 116 others were also severely burned
Mr Moretti is currently in custody, while his wife has been bailed with an electronic bracelet
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.’
