STORY: :: A Swiss mountain village is buried in mud and rock after a glacier collapsed
:: Blatten, Switzerland
:: May 28, 2025
:: Authorities say they monitored the movements for weeks and had evacuated residents
:: Raphael Mayoraz, Natural Hazards Office
“Now this worst-case scenario has happened. That means the 3 million cubic meters of rock that fell onto the glacier have all come down with the glacier. And that is very, very rare. We couldn’t find any example of this in history, but now everything has come down.”
On Wednesday, the glacier partially collapsed, creating a huge cloud that covered part of the mountain as rock and debris came cascading down towards the village. One person is currently missing, officials said.
Drone footage broadcast by Swiss national broadcaster SRF showed a vast plain of mud and soil completely covering part of the southwestern village of Blatten, the river running through it and the wooded sides of the surrounding valley.
Experts consulted by Reuters said it was difficult to assess the extent to which rising temperatures spurred by climate change had triggered the collapse because of the role the crumbling mountainside had played.
Buildings and infrastructure in Blatten, whose roughly 300 inhabitants were evacuated on May 19 after geologists identified the risk of an imminent avalanche of rock and ice from above, were battered by the rockslide, officials said.
