Overview
- Zurich investigators report a substantial pyrotechnics cache in the venue, documenting dozens of spent fire‑fountain remnants, and police call the spark‑emitting devices dangerous, with illegal items such as Lupo P1 ground crackers recovered.
- Owner Jacques Moretti told investigators the bar staged a recurring “Sparkler” show with champagne bottles fitted with party fountains, which were used on New Year’s Eve.
- Video evidence shows a waitress carrying champagne with sparklers shortly before flames reached the basement ceiling around 1:26 a.m.; she is among the dead and was reportedly found behind a service door.
- The waitress’s family disputes the operators’ portrayal of her actions and says she followed instructions in a strictly professional relationship.
- Prosecutors have detained Moretti pending trial and restricted his wife’s movements and documents as they pursue negligent‑homicide‑related allegations; the disaster left 40 dead with 116 initially hospitalized and many still in care.