Funerals for Italian teens killed in Swiss fire held on Wednesday.
Italian president Sergio Mattarella is to attend a memorial ceremony in Switzerland on Friday for the victims of the deadly New Year fire at a bar at the Crans-Montana ski resort.
The fire, which left 40 people dead, including six Italians, was likely caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles as young people partied at Le Constellation bar.
French president Emmanuel Macron will also attend the memorial event planned in Martigny on Friday in honour of the victims, nine of which were French, and the 116 injured, all of whom have now been identified.
Switzerland will hold a national day of mourning on Friday, Swiss president Guy Parmelin said, with church bells to ring out across the country at 14.00.
The bodies of five of the six Italian victims of the tragedy, all aged 16, were repatriated on Monday.
A minute’s silence was held in schools across Italy on Wednesday, coinciding with the funerals of the six Italians: Achille Barosi and Chiara Costanzo in Milan, Giovanni Tamburi in Bologna, Emanuele Galeppini in Genoa, and Riccardo Minghetti in Rome.
The funeral of 15-year-old dual Swiss-Italian citizen Sofia Prosperi took place in her home town of Lugano, in Switzerland, news agency ANSA reports.
A memorial Mass, reportedly requested by Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni, will be held in Rome on Friday afternoon in memory of the victims of the fire.
The memorial is set to be attended by Meloni and members of the government alongside opposition leaders, according to Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.
The service will be presided over by the Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, at the Basilica dei Santi Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso in the city centre.
