Italy seeks compensation from Switzerland in Crans-Montana fire tragedy
Italy wants to appear as a civil plaintiff in the criminal proceedings in connection with the fire tragedy in Crans-Montana on New Year's Day. The reason given for this step is the "direct damage" caused to the Italian state.
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening:
Italy seeks compensation from Switzerland in Crans-Montana fire tragedy
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
According to a statement from the seat of government in Rome published by the Ansa news agency, the request for civil action was made by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers via the public prosecutor’s office, which in turn commissioned a Swiss law firm. The President of the Council of Ministers is Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
By “direct damage”, Italy is alluding to the “considerable” resources mobilised by the National Civil Protection Service to provide medical, psychological and logistical support to the Italian nationals affected.
It also stated that the involvement of local authorities in the accident was considered extremely likely. This justifies the decisive demand for compensation from all those responsible under civil law.
+ Switzerland waives hospital fees for Italian Crans-Montana fire patients
To date, the Canton Valais public prosecutor’s office has not received any such request, it informed the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin will be meeting with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella in Rome on Tuesday. The following day, Parmelin will attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Swiss Guard at the Vatican and meet Pope Leo XIV.
The fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve claimed the lives of 41 people and injured 115, some of them seriously. Six of the fatalities and 10 of the injured were Italian nationals.
Translated from German by AI/jdp
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.