‘Beautiful’ schoolgirl, 15, named as one of 40 killed in ski club inferno
A girl who went to a British school has been named as one of the latest victims of the Swiss ski resort inferno that killed 40 people and injured 119 others.
Charlotte Niddam, 15, was among the last 16 victims to have been identified by police after the New Year blaze at the Crans-Montana resort.
She was initially reported as missing, after a fire broke out inside the Constellation bar in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
She had Israeli, British, and French citizenship, reports said.
Charlotte’s family said in a social media post on Sunday: ‘It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beautiful daughter and sister Charlotte.
‘Details regarding the funeral arrangements will follow shortly.’
The post said Charlotte’s funeral is expected to take place in Paris later this week.
Charlotte attended Immanuel College in Hertfordshire according to multiple reports and after the fire the school said in a statement it was ‘praying for a miracle’.
According to the Crans-Montana resort website, Charlotte had been working as a babysitter in the area.
The Valais region police force published a statement on Sunday confirming that all 40 people killed in the fire have now been identified.
In total, 21 of the dead were Swiss citizens, seven were French and six Italian.
Other victims came from Romania, Turkey, Portugal, Belgium as well as one Swiss-French dual national.
The mother of a 16-year-old Swiss boy Arthur Brodard confirmed overnight that he was among those killed.
‘Now we can start our mourning, knowing he is in peace,’ Laetitia Brodard-Sitre said on her Facebook page.
Switzerland will hold a national day of mourning on Friday, national president Guy Parmelin said on Sunday, with church bells ringing across the country and a minute’s silence planned.
‘In this moment of reflection, everyone in Switzerland can personally remember the victims of the disaster,’ Parmelin told newspaper Sonntagsblick.
The fire likely started when ‘fountain candle’ sparklers were held aloft too close to the ceiling at the Constellation bar, the region’s chief prosecutor has said.
Some 119 people were injured, including many with severe burns.
The last 16 victims included two Swiss twins aged 15, a Swiss woman aged 22, a Swiss and French woman aged 24, two Italian girls aged 16 and 15, an Italian boy aged 16, a 22-year-old Portuguese woman, a 17-year-old Belgian girl, two French women aged 33 and 26, two French men aged 23 and 20, two French teenage boys aged 17 and 14.
Authorities previously said they would look into whether the material on the ceiling of the venue that was designed to muffle sound conformed to safety regulations.
Officials said they would also look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes.
One of the managers of the Swiss ski club tragedy that claimed the lives of 40 people has previously been convicted of kidnapping and pimping, according to reports.
Jacques Moretti is under criminal investigation for manslaughter with his wife Jessica, for the blaze at Le Constellation in the Crans-Montana ski resort on New Year’s Day.
Multiple articles in French media over the weekend have described Mr Moretti as a convicted criminal who previously served time in prison.
Europe 1 is currently reporting that he was ‘convicted and imprisoned in Savoie, France, about twenty years ago for fraud, kidnapping, and false imprisonment.
‘Since then, he has supposedly kept a low profile. Here in Crans-Montana, he owns three businesses – two bars, including Le Constellation, and a restaurant, Le Vieux Chalet, which he completely renovated last year.’
Le Parisien reports: ‘According to our information, Jacques Moretti is no stranger to the French justice system.
‘He is known for pimping cases dating back some twenty years, as well as for a kidnapping and confinement case. He was imprisoned in Savoie.’
Quoting its own legal source, RTL, another national radio network, reported: ‘The Corsican-born man in his sixties was imprisoned in Savoie in 2005, for involvement in cases of pimping, fraud, kidnapping, and false imprisonment.’
There was no initial response to the revelations from lawyers representing Mr Moretti.