Parents defend ‘girl in the helmet’ blamed for New Year’s Eve Swiss resort fire

Cyane Panine was holding champagne bottles with sparklers while wearing a crash helmet moments before a fire erupted at a bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana (Picture: Instagram)

Cyane Panine was one of more than 100 people inside a bar at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana when disaster struck on New Year’s Eve.

The 24-year-old waitress quickly became known as ‘la Fille au Casque’ – or The Girl in the Helmet – after pictures circulated of her masked and waving champagne bottles with sparklers.