Avalanche buries a town in Switzerland without leaving any fatalities

Published at: 29/05/2025 08:07 PM

The town of Blatten, Switzerland, was practically buried under rubble after a collapse of the Birch glacier, which caused serious material damage in the Loetschental Valley. The avalanche carried away a group of ice, rock debris, mud, mud and other sediments that destroyed most of the town.

The risk of glacier disintegration was warned by geologists a week ago, so nearly 300 people were previously evacuated as a safety measure. However, an inhabitant of the region remains missing, and therefore, search and rescue operations are being carried out.

“What I can tell you right now is that around 90% of the town is covered or destroyed, so it's a major catastrophe that has occurred here in Blatten,” said Stephane Ganzer, security chief for the southern region of Valais.

Only a third of the potential volume of the unstable mountain range collapsed as a result of the landslide. The rest, containing millions of cubic meters of rock, could still fall over the valley.

A video on social media and Swiss television showed the mudslide near Blatten, in the Löetschental Valley, to the south, with houses and buildings partially submerged under a mass of mud. “It's very, very exceptional. We have no example in history and now everything fell down,” he stressed. “This is an extraordinary event,” said Albert Rösti, the Federal Councilor responsible for the Environment.

Mazo News Team