The New years eve fire in Switzland

The owners of the bar Jacques and Jessica Moretti are being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and arson by negligence.

Such a tragedy. All those young people celebrating the end of a year and looking forward to 2026. So very sad. Poor families. How on earth do you recover from this?

My sister celebrated her birthday two weeks ago and I was shocked to see photos of the same sparklers stuck in a cake and being carried into a restaurant. I thought it looked extremely dangerous. This was not in the UK.

This topic has been discussed on the thread calling for a ban on fireworks. I'm not saying that this thread is unnecessary. I just mention it because I wouldn't like folks to think that this tragedy has been ignored on 'Gnet.

I am amazed at the apparent laxness of the Swiss in allowing this death trap of a club to trade. Surely they must have a set of standards to be met in places of public socialising? Like adequate fire exits, overhead sprinklers and limits on numbers?

This Christmas period seems to have been full of tragedies, in the UK and abroad. I feel devastated for all those whose festive season has been so dreadfully cut short.

I think there's far too many issues relating to this event to even start speculating.
Like the type of pyrotechnics involved, the fabric of the building, the available exits, the statutory inspections, the rôle of management, the actions of staff involved, the evacuation procedures etc etc.

The word tragedy seems inadequate. I have no words. All the victims have been identified.

There was only one exit, MartavTaurus.

Yes, only one exit operational, but there was apparently another one that was locked and had to be smashed. The authorities will no doubt be looking at every aspect.

This tragedy has cut me to the core. My grandchildren are the ageasf so many of the victims. Like them they were out to parties on New Years Eve. neither went out to a big bar or place of entertainment, but they so easily could have. I look at the grieving families and here my children's voices in the voices of the agonised parents of the victims

Having worked in bars and theatres the first thing that struck me was that there seemed to be no planning or training for evacuation in an emergency. Obviously having such a large crowd in a confined space, only one exit open and, apparently, very inflammable materials around was a recipe for disaster. I have read that regulations in Switzerland are not as stringent as they are in the EU. It may be worth remembering tat stripping ourselves of all EU "control" isn't necessarily a good thing.

There appears to have been very limited inspections of the building with regard to fire precautions, health and safety etc. The owners did some of the renovation work so not sure if building inspectors were involved. I always imagined the Swiss would be very hot on rules and regulations but apparently not the case.

Must say I’m surprised at the evident laxness of safety regulations in Switzerland. Evidently wrongly, I’d assumed that they’d be pretty hot on such things. I dare say I’m not alone in that.

I don't know about night clubs or bars, but generally speaking in the UK we do not use fire alarms in places of entertainment - theatres, concert venues etc. The idea is to not panic people but to get them out quickly in an orderly fashion.

Some member of staff in the Swiss bar should have moved those youngsters on, and stopped them filming which wasted valuable time. (I am NOT blaming the teenagers, because who at 15 or 16 knows what to do.)

This kind of underground layour reminds me of the old Cavern club in Liverpool where I grew up. It was in an old celler and had only one way in - narrow stone stairs. It would have been a death trap if a fire had broken out.. The modern Cavern club has multiple fire escapes.

It comes as a shock to hear that this bar had slipped through the net for safety inspections since 2019.

I was terribly surprised because I wrongly assumed Switzerland would be hot on rules and regulations.
It is such an awful thing to happen everyone so happy and expecting of the new year ahead, some very young children in there too 14 year olds How come !
I m sure with a drink or two and a huge party atmosphere they were not thinking with practical brains, I bet to start with they thought it was all great fun and exciting

Yes and where were their fire extinguishers?? No management either. The waitresses should have been getting them out not letting them stop to film.
Dreadful.

MartavTaurus

It comes as a shock to hear that this bar had slipped through the net for safety inspections since 2019.

Quite shocking that it had not been shut down.

I was terribly surprised because I wrongly assumed Switzerland would be hot on rules and regulations.
I was surprised too, I really thought Switzerland would be very safety-conscious.

They were not insisting on ID either.

It reminds me of the Tavern in the Town, Birmingham 1974.
But fire regulations wouldn't have saved anyone against a bomb.

Why were those children allowed in a nightclub anyway where did their parents think they were? Terrible tradgedy.

tanith

Why were those children allowed in a nightclub anyway where did their parents think they were? Terrible tradgedy.

The legal age for drinking alcohol is only 16 in Switzerland (though there were, indeed, a number of underage children among the victims)

tanith

Why were those children allowed in a nightclub anyway where did their parents think they were? Terrible tradgedy.

I'm 64 now However I was going to nightclubs at 15. My parents will have thought I was staying over at a friend's. Quite normal.

Some of them were 14 or under I read Reka

Some 14 year old girls, and boys, can present as being older than they actually are. My grandaughter was one of them. It was not a question of what she was wearing and make up as her height, shape and looks from 13 onwards. Her brother, who hit 6ft 3in when he was 14, also presents as older, but he has a young face, that gives his real age away.

Yes, i think two that died were 14.

But this is such an enormous tragedy. The parents do not need to be made to feel guilty. Not that anything will ever make them feel worse than they do now.

How they feel if they see any comments on social media where their children are being called stupid for filming and dancing, how they shouldn't have been in there etc etc.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing