Waitress who started Swiss bar fire has been 'unfairly scapegoated', say parents
Parents of 24-year-old Cyane say she had been following instructions from the bar owners when sparklers caught the ceiling alight
The parents of the waitress believed to have started the deadly Swiss bar fire say she has been unfairly scapegoated as she was just "following instructions".
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Jerome and Astrid Panine say they are still struggling with the death of their daughter, Cyane, who was one of 40 killed in a bar fire in the early hours of New Year's Day.
The couple said their daughter has been used as a scapegoated after footage from the basement shows her being lifted onto the shoulders of a barman - a move which reportedly caused the sparklers to set the ceiling alight.
Her mother, Astrid, said that her 24-year-old daughter had just been following instructions from the bar's owners to "get the atmosphere going".
The couple also criticised the nickname given to Cyane after the incident - ‘La Fille au Casque’ (‘the girl in the helmet’), in reference to her outfit at the time - saying it had unfairly reduced their daughter to a symbol of the catastrophe.
"Cyane was spontaneous, radiant and full of heart," Astrid said.
“I cannot accept that my daughter is remembered only as the girl with the helmet,” said her father, Jerome.
Cyane had travelled to the Alpine resort in late November for seasonal work, and had started her shift at a gourmet burger restaurant, owned by the same couple as the bar, on the morning of New Year's Eve.
Later that day, owners Jacques and Jessica Moretti, sent Cyane to “Le Constel”.
She was stationed on the ground floor for most of the evening, welcoming guests and directing them to tables, but was asked to go downstairs around 1am on New Year's Day to help with a large champagne order.
Cyane, wearing a crash helmet, and other staff donned in Guy Fawkes masks then placed sparklers in champagne bottles to deliver them to customers, which is when she was lifted to the shoulders of 27-year-old barman Matthieu Aubrun.
It appears that the helmet visor, which was down, prevented Cyane from realising the soundproofing foam on the ceiling had caught alight.
The fire spread quickly across the bar, with many partygoers attempting to flee up the single narrow staircase, creating a bottleneck.
Some, including Cyane, were believed to have tried a second door which was locked - which her parents claim was to prevent non-paying partygoers sneaking in.
“If the door had been open, maybe there wouldn’t have been deaths,” said 59-year-old Jerome.
The couple said their daughter had no employment contract, had complained of exhaustion, and had received no safety training, rejecting the claims of the Moretti's that she was "like family".
The Morettis face criminal investigation for manslaughter by negligence after the fire, and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.