As the bar owner is arrested, a woman tells Crans-Montana Memorial Service, “It was the apocalypse.”

The tragedy united people in Crans-Montana and brought the country to a pause.

On Friday, just down the road from the bar where 40 young people died in a New Year’s Eve fire, church bells rang in memory of them.

Mourners marched across Switzerland to mark the national day of mourning.

Then, moments after the final notes of a special memorial service had faded, news came that one of the bar’s owners had been detained.

Swiss prosecutors said French national Jacques Moretti was a potential flight risk. He and his wife Jessica, also French, are suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and negligent arson.

Many of the victims’ families had demanded such action from the beginning: more than a week after the fire, anger continues to grow in the community.

At the main ceremony in Martigny, further down the valley, survivors joined relatives of the dead. Some people came from the hospital for the memorial. People were holding white roses in their laps and holding each other’s hands for support.

A young woman named Mary told the audience, “The images we encountered were unbearable. Scenes worse than a nightmare. Screaming in the icy cold, the smell of burning. It was the apocalypse.”

She was in a bar opposite Le Constellation when the fire broke out and suddenly found herself helping the injured as they ran away from the flames.

She said she would never forget what she saw.

Listening in the front row were the presidents of France and Italy, whose citizens were among those killed and injured in the fire. Both countries have started their own investigations.

Back in Rome, Italy’s prime minister vowed to ensure all those responsible were identified.

Giorgia Meloni said, “This was not an accident. This was the result of a lot of people who didn’t do their jobs.”

She wants to know why the music was not stopped as soon as the fire broke out.

“Why didn’t anyone tell the youth to get out? Why didn’t the council do a proper investigation? There are lots of reasons.”

People in Crans-Montana have the same questions and more.

For now, the only two formal suspects are Jacques and Jessica Moretti, co-owners of Le Constellation. Prosecutors called the couple Friday morning. He is being investigated for causing death and injury by negligence but has not been charged.

Now Jacques Moretti has been remanded to custody. In a statement, the Public Ministry said the move was taken following a “new assessment of the flight risk”.

“I constantly think about the victims and the people who are struggling,” his wife said in front of TV cameras after hours of questioning at the ministry.

This was his first public comment since the fire.

“This is an unimaginable tragedy. It happened in our facility, and I would like to apologise.”

Nine days later, Le Constellation is still obscured from view behind the white plastic sheet. A lone policeman stands guard, his face constantly covered with snow.

What happened inside the building’s basement slowly becomes clear – and it is the story of a disaster that should never have happened.

Mobile phone footage shows a sparkler tied to a champagne bottle hitting the ceiling and bursting into flames. Covered with soundproof foam that was never safety tested, it ignites quickly.

When the crowd finally runs in panic for the exit, there is a scuffle on the stairs. It seems the emergency doors were closed.

But another video from six years ago shows the risk was well known. In the footage, a waiter can be heard warning that the material on the roof is flammable.

“Be careful of the foam,” the voice yells, as people wave the same sparklers.

But the questions here aren’t just for owners.

This week local officials in Crans made the shocking admission that they had not carried out mandatory safety checks of bars for five years.

He did not give any explanation.

“Inside that bar was hell.

There were temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees. There was no way to escape,” Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Coronado, told the BBC, citing a long list of security violations.

Six Italians were killed as a result.

The ambassador stressed, “Italy wants justice, the Italian government wants justice and the Italian people certainly want justice. The families want justice.”

This also includes people with life-changing injuries.

The first major influx of patients occurred at the regional hospital in Sion. Tensions were further heightened by the fact that many of the doctors’ own children were partying in Crans for the New Year.

“They were all afraid that the next stretcher would bring their own child,” recalls hospital director Eric Bonvin.

But he is proud of how his team coped.

Some casualties were unconscious and so badly burnt that it took time to identify them.

The most serious cases were taken to specialist burn centres in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, where some still remain in critical condition.

All face a long, difficult road to recovery that doctors liken to “rebirth”, as many of their young patients suffer severe facial burns.

Professor Bonvin says, “First of all, the body needs to be protected, like a foetus in the mother’s womb. This is what is happening now for many people. Then they have to re-enter the world and find their identity.”

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work and resilience.”

Add to this the pain of survival.

Bonvin explains, “They came and at first they felt lucky to be alive. But some people now feel this guilt, wondering why they are here but not with their friend or brother.”

“This is a delicate moment.”

In the central crucifix, a pile of tribute to the dead is still growing, protected from the elements by a canvas.

On Friday, many people left their fresh flowers and stood for a moment in front of the ruins of the bar. Remembering, in silence.