Glacier collapse buries 90% of Swiss village, person missing

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 28, 2025 12:49 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

A immense chunk of a glacier successful the Swiss Alps broke disconnected connected Wednesday afternoon, causing a deluge of ice, mud and stone to hide portion of a upland colony evacuated earlier this period owed to the hazard of a stone slide, authorities said.

One idiosyncratic is missing, officials said.

Drone footage broadcast by Swiss nationalist broadcaster SRF showed a immense plain of mud and ungraded wholly covering portion of the colony of Blatten, the stream moving done it and the wooded sides of the surrounding valley.

"We've mislaid our village," Matthias Bellwald, the politician of Blatten told a property league aft the slide. "The colony is nether rubble. We volition rebuild."

Stephane Ganzer, an authoritative successful the canton of Valais wherever Blatten is located, told Swiss media that astir 90 per cent of the colony was covered by the landslide.

"An unbelievable magnitude of worldly thundered down into the valley," said Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for section authorities.

One idiosyncratic was missing, Ebener said. Officials gave nary further details connected the idiosyncratic during the property conference.

Officials said millions of cubic metres of stone and ungraded person tumbled down since Blatten was archetypal evacuated this period erstwhile portion of the upland down the glacier began to crumble, sparking warnings it could bring the crystal wide down with it.

A video shared wide connected societal media showed the melodramatic infinitesimal erstwhile the glacier partially collapsed, creating a immense unreality that covered portion of the upland arsenic stone and debris came cascading down toward the village.

Experts consulted by Reuters said it was hard to measure the grade to which rising temperatures spurred by clime alteration had triggered the illness due to the fact that of the relation the crumbling mountainside had played.

Christian Huggel, a prof of situation and clime astatine the University of Zurich, said portion assorted factors were astatine play successful Blatten, it was known that section permafrost had been affected by warmer temperatures successful the Alps.

The nonaccomplishment of permafrost tin negatively impact the stableness of the upland stone which is wherefore clime alteration had apt played a portion successful the deluge, Huggel said.

The grade of the harm to Blatten had nary precedent successful the Swiss Alps successful the existent oregon erstwhile century, helium added.

The rubble of shattered woody buildings could beryllium seen connected the flanks of the immense wide of world successful the drone footage.

Buildings and infrastructure successful Blatten, whose astir 300 inhabitants were evacuated connected May 19 aft geologists had identified the hazard of an imminent avalanche of stone and crystal from above, were battered by the stone slide, officials said.

SRF said houses were destroyed successful the colony nestled successful the Loetschental vale successful confederate Switzerland.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter expressed her solidarity with the section colonisation arsenic exigency services warned radical the country was hazardous and urged them to enactment away, closing disconnected the main roadworthy into the valley.

"It's unspeakable to suffer your home," Keller-Sutter said connected X.