An email written before the massacre could become one of the most important documents in the investigation into the fire at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, where 41 people died and 115 others were injured on New Year’s Eve. The message would have been written by the municipality’s construction manager between 2017 and 2024, and would contain a precise warning about the risk posed by the sound-absorbing foam used in the room. The news was revealed by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger and it would not have been present in the investigation documents so far.
The email about the danger of Constellation foam
In the internal communication, the municipality manager reported that particular attention needed to be paid to the foam used for the acoustic insulation of the Constellation because it could catch fire and cause a fire. On August 28, the former construction manager was initially summoned as a person called to provide information. During the hearing her status changed and she became the seventeenth person to be prosecuted in the investigation.
According to what was subsequently reconstructed by Tages-Anzeigerthe investigators would have shown her the email. Faced with the document, Clavien exercised her right not to respond.
Jessica Moretti’s previous message: “The Constel will burn”
However, in the investigation documents there is a message dated 13 December 2019 attributed to Jessica Moretti, owner of the Constellation together with her husband Jacques. When speaking to employees about using the sparkling fountains, Moretti recommended particular caution because, if the sparks reached the foam on the ceiling, “the Constel will burn.”
During the interrogation on June 5, Jessica Moretti contested the interpretation attributed to that message and denied being aware of a risk capable of causing a tragedy of those proportions. Jacques Moretti also argued that the precautions were designed to avoid damage to equipment and not because managers anticipated the possibility of a catastrophic fire.
The municipality of Crans had already admitted the gap in controls
Already a few days after the tragedy the Municipality of Crans-Montana had officially recognized a problem. In a statement dated January 6, 2026, after examining the documentation delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office, the administration declared that it had discovered “a deficiency in the periodic checks of this exercise in the period 2020–2025”. The Municipality had recalled that inspections had been carried out in 2016, 2018 and 2019, while in subsequent years periodic checks had not been carried out regularly.
From the rain of fire, doubts about the materials: “After the Crans-Montana massacre, even in Italy there are those who are now running to get things in order”
In the same document the administration had assured: “The municipality will assume all the responsibilities that justice will determine”. After the massacre, checks were entrusted to an external body on public establishments and the use of pyrotechnic devices in closed rooms in the municipal area was prohibited.
The scope of the investigation into the New Year’s Eve massacre has progressively widened: in addition to the Moretti spouses, employees and former municipal employees, administrators and former administrators of Crans-Montana are involved. The crimes alleged in the investigation include, in various capacities, negligent homicide, negligent personal injury and negligent fire.
Chiara Costanzo’s father, among the victims at Constellation: “Speechless, we need the truth”
“As Chiara’s father, reading such news leaves me speechless. If the Municipality had really been informed of the risk that that sound-absorbing foam could catch fire, then I believe it is necessary to shed full light on what happened and, above all, understand why that danger was not faced and averted”: Andrea Costanzo, father of the sixteen-year-old victim of the New Year’s Eve fire in Crans-Montana, told ANSA. “Chiara and the other victims – he adds – cannot be brought back. But we families need to know the truth”.
“If someone knew that a risk existed, we want to understand what was done, what was not done and why”, continues Andrea Costanzo. “I don’t want to replace the judiciary and it’s not up to me to establish responsibilities. But I can say one thing: when a tragedy takes lives, including that of my daughter, any information that could have contributed to avoiding it takes on enormous weight – underlines Chiara’s father -. I hope that the investigation can get to the bottom, with clarity and without leaving gray areas. We owe it to Chiara, to all the victims and their families”.