Swiss open criminal case against owners of ski resort bar after deadly fire

It comes after a preliminary investigation found the likely cause was sparklers on champagne bottles being carried too close to the ceiling.

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The blaze at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve injured 119 other people, officials have said. With many of the injured identified, families now face an agonising wait for information about those still missing.

The bodies of two Swiss women aged 21 and 16, and two Swiss men aged 18 and 16 were the first to be indentified and returned to their families, police said earlier.

The likely cause of the fire was sparklers on champagne bottles being carried too close to the ceiling, a preliminary investigation of how the fire began found.

The French managers of Le Constellation are suspected of having committed homicide by negligence, causing bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, the prosecutors' office in the canton of Valais said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.