While two people are still in an artificial coma after the incident with an ethanol lamp in Cannes, the lawyer for the five victims speaks out. He denounces “an accumulation of errors and nonsense” and announces to France 3 Côte d’Azur that he is filing a complaint against the restaurant and the town hall.
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The victims of the incident which occurred on November 27 in a restaurant in downtown Cannes will, some of them, have to suffer after-effects for the rest of their lives. “Among these five people, we have two lives completely ruined” confides their lawyer, Master Jérôme Zuccarelli.
The two most seriously burned victims are still in an artificial coma to this day, while a third person remains hospitalized. “All of them are extremely shocked by what they experienced. (…) Three of them ended up as living torches…”
ALSO READ > VIDEO. Five customers of a Cannes restaurant burned, three of them seriously, by a terrace heater.
For those who will defend the five victims, all from Italy, failures on several levels would have led to this tragedy. “We know the circumstances of the accident, many people, around fifteen, witnessed the accident.”
The two most seriously burned victims are still in an artificial coma to this day, while a third person remains hospitalized.
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© Transmitted by Me Jérôme Zuccarelli
The events took place in the evening while a table of Italian customers were dining in a restaurant in the city center of Cannes. The group then participated in a conference. According to the lawyer, a server at the establishment recharged the ethanol lamp while it was still lit, which triggered a flashback.
In the panic of the moment, flaming liquid was projected onto the guests.
It was heating on the terrace which was the cause of the incident this Wednesday, November 27 in the evening.
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© Jérémy Crunchant FTV
“Whatever the restaurateur says, he is fully responsible. He is responsible for his employees, and perhaps the waiter was not properly trained.” For the lawyer, the restaurant’s liability is irrefutable.
“We cannot recharge this type of ethanol lamp near the public. (…) We therefore have a restaurateur who is circumventing the law by putting something heating on an open terrace, a used product which is intended for the interior, and use of this liquid without taking the necessary precautions.”
Last week, France 3 Côte d’Azur learned that the restaurant was closed by prefectural decision for a period of six months.
If the responsibility of the restaurant is pointed out by him in this case, the lawyer also specifies to file a complaint against the city of Cannes. “We learned that there had already been events of this type in Cannes. The city should have taken the necessary measures” he specifies.
In the complaint filed on behalf of his clients, the lawyer specifies: “As the common law authority for the special police of establishments open to the public, the Mayor is responsible for ensuring the execution of the regulations on the protection of the risks of fire and panic in these establishments. By authorizing the “installation of such ethanol devices on an open terrace of a restaurant in the town, the Town Hall of Cannes and its Mayor have seriously failed in their obligation of safety and prevention.”
ALSO READ > Customers burned in Cannes after the explosion of an ethanol lamp: the prefecture closed the restaurant
A few days after the tragedy, the town hall reacted to France 3 Côte d’Azur: “The subject is not that of the trial of open or closed terraces, or of the Cannes charter, confided Karin Topin-Condomitti, general director of services for the city of Cannes. [Il faut] ask questions at the national level about securing this equipment.”
The victims’ lawyer, who denounces a “accumulation of errors and nonsense” specifies that an investigating judge is now responsible for shedding light on this matter, which is confirmed to us by the Grasse Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Contacted following the complaint filed by Maître Jérôme Zuccarelli, the Cannes town hall did not wish to react. Our editorial team has also contacted the restaurant and is awaiting a reaction from them.
