One of the bar’s owners reportedly told local media the establishment had been inspected three times in the past ten years and that everything had been done according to the regulations.
Authorities are still working on the formal identification of the 40 people killed in the fire, with police commander Frédéric Gisler saying “that is our priority”.
Many of those injured in the fire remain in a critical condition and “are still fighting to live”, Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais region, said.
Of those injured, 113 have been formally identified, Gisler said. This figure includes 71 Swiss citizens, 14 French, and 11 Italians, as well as four Serbs, among others.
The formal identification process of six others was ongoing, he said, and warned the figures may still change.
Reynard said around 50 injured people “have been transferred or will be transferred soon to European countries in specialised centres for severe burns”.
Among those injured was 19-year-old French footballer Tahirys Dos Santos, according to a statement released by his football club, FC Mertz.
Dos Santos was “severely burned” in the fire, the club said, and has been airlifted to Germany for treatment.
The families of those missing after the fire were still anxiously awaiting updates from officials on Friday evening.
Among those missing is Italian national Achille Barosi, 16, who entered the bar at 01:30 local time on New Year’s Day to retrieve his jacket and phone. His family have not heard from him since.
“We don’t know if he’s still alive,” his aunt Francesca told the BBC World Service’s OS programme. She said her nephew was an excellent painter who had enrolled in an art school in Milan.
At the news conference on Friday, officials said they were identifying victims using a process called “Disaster Victim Identification”, whereby a team of forensic specialists, doctors, dentists and investigators gather data that allows them to name the dead.
