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Swiss glacier collapse destroys parts of village One person missing after Swiss glacier collapse destroys village
(about 3 hours later)
Numerous homes in Blatten devastated after huge cloud of ice and rubble inundates evacuated town Homes in Blatten devastated after huge cloud of ice and rubble inundates evacuated town
A massive glacier has collapsed in southern Switzerland, partly destroying the small village of Blatten, which had been evacuated recently because of the impending danger. A huge section of a glacier in the Swiss Alps has broken off, causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock to bury most of a village evacuated earlier this month due to the risk of a rockslide.
At about 3.30pm local time, a huge collapse occurred on the Birch glacier, emergency services in the Wallis region said. Drone footage broadcast by Swiss national broadcaster SRF showed a vast plain of mud and soil completely covering part of the village of Blatten, the river running through it and the wooded sides of the surrounding valley.
Numerous homes in Blatten, normally home to 300 people, were destroyed, Jonas Jeitziner, of the regional emergency management service, told Switzerland’s Keystone-ATS domestic news agency. “An unbelievable amount of material thundered down into the valley,” said Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for local authorities in the southwestern canton of Valais.
The glacier collapse had been expected for several days. One person was missing, Ebener said.
Footage posted on YouTube showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountain and into the valley where the village is located. The debris reached the houses. The rubble of shattered wooden buildings could be seen on the flanks of the huge mass of earth in the drone footage.
There had been a significant increase in activity on the glacier on Tuesday night, which intensified on Wednesday. Buildings and infrastructure in Blatten were hit hard by the rockslide, Ebener said. The village’s about 300 inhabitants had been evacuated on 19 May after geologists had identified the risk of an imminent avalanche of rock and ice from above.
Glaciers in the Alps have retreated in recent years due to warming that most scientists attribute to the climate crisis. SRF said houses were destroyed in the village nestled in the Lötschental valley in southern Switzerland.
Swiss glaciers melted as much in 2022-23 as in 1960-90, losing about 10% of their total volume. Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter expressed her solidarity with the local population as emergency services warned people the area was hazardous and urged them to stay away, closing off the main road into the valley.
The amount of snow covering Switzerland’s glaciers at the end of winter this year was 13% below the 2010-20 average, according to glacier experts. “It’s terrible to lose your home,” Keller-Sutter said on X.
Authorities have been monitoring the slopes above Blatten since ordering residents to leave their homes.
A video shared widely on social media showed the dramatic moment when the glacier partially collapsed, creating a huge cloud that covered part of the mountain as rock and debris came rumbling down into the outskirts of the village.