Twin Italian-Jewish sisters, both in their teens, were confirmed on Sunday to be among the 40 fatalities from a fire that broke out at a hotel in Switzerland at a New Year’s party just after midnight Friday.
Another Jewish teenage girl, Charlotte Niddam, who is an Israeli citizen, is still missing.
Sisters Alicia and Diana Gunst were initially considered missing in the ski town of Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, but their bodies were identified along with 16 others out of the known 40 dead, a spokesperson for the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) told JNS.
Sparklers on bottles being carried too close to the ceiling are the likely cause of the fire during New Year’s celebrations at the bar, a preliminary investigation has found. In addition to the 40 slain, 119 others were injured in the fire. Many of the approximately 80 critically injured have also not yet been identified.
Many of the dead and missing are teenagers. The Le Constellation bar, where the fire broke out, was popular with teenagers and young adults in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, where the drinking age is 16.
On Saturday, eight casualties were identified and their remains were returned to their families. All were aged between 16 and 24, Swiss authorities said. On Sunday, another 16 were identified, including the Gunst sisters.
The French couple who own the bar—named by the media as Jacques and Jessica Moretti—are suspected of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, the prosecutors’ office for the Valais region said.
Beatrice Pilloud, Valais canton lead prosecutor, said in a statement that investigators were looking into whether the acoustic foam on the venue’s ceiling was “the cause of the problem,” as well as “whether it complies with regulations,” the BBC reported.
