Glacier Collapses in the Swiss Alps, Wiping Out Most of Mountain Village

Articles

Summary

Swiss glacier collapse buries most of village of Blatten

The Swiss village of Blatten has been partially destroyed after a huge chunk of glacier crashed down into the valley. Although the village had been evacuated some days ago because of fears the Birch glacier was disintegrating, one person has been reported missing, and many homes have been completely flattened. Blatten's mayor, Matthias Bellwald, said "the unimaginable has happened" but promised the village still had a future. Local authorities have requested support from the Swiss army's disaster relief unit and members of the Swiss government are on their way to the scene.

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BBC News

Man remains missing after a Swiss glacier collapsed and destroyed 90% of an Alpine village

A 64-year-old man remained missing Thursday after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside the day before. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90% of the village was destroyed. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was underway for the man, whose name wasn’t made public, and it involved a drone with a thermal camera. The regional government said in a statement that a large chunk of the Birch Glacier above the village had broken off, causing the landslide, which also buried the nearby Lonza River bed, raising the possibility of dammed water flows.

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AP NEWS

Watch: Glacier collapse buries Alpine village

A 64-year-old man has been reported missing after 90 per cent of the village of Blatten, in the Lötschental valley, was smothered by the avalanche on Wednesday afternoon. The village’s 300 inhabitants escaped mass casualties after authorities evacuated the area 10 days ago as a precaution. Video footage captured the moment about 3.5 million cubic metres of rock, snow and ice broke off the Birch Glacier, which looms above the village. Matthias Bellwald, the mayor of Blatten, said: “We’ve lost our village. The village is under rubble. We will rebuild.”

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The Telegraph

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News Results

Swiss village almost entirely destroyed after collapse of glacier buries it in mud

One person missing and Blatten devastated after huge cloud of ice and rubble inundates evacuated town

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4d ago

Swiss town BURIED after horror avalanche submerges homes & causes evacuation

A massive cloud of ice and debris surged towards the small village of Blatten, completely wiping it out. The glacier collapse registered as an earthquake with a Richter scale measurement of 3.1. The Swiss government has dispatched the army to the scene after local authorities requested assistance.

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3d ago

Moment village is buried as glacier crashes down Swiss mountain

A massive glacier collapse on Wednesday in southern Switzerland partially destroyed the small village of Blatten. At around 3:30 pm local time, a huge chunk of the Birch glacier broke off, according to emergency services. Many homes in Blatten, normally home to 300 people, were destroyed and one person is currently missing.

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3d ago

Glacier collapses and wipes out village burying homes in snow and debris

The Birch glacier in the Valais region of Switzerland collapsed on Wednesday. Footage of the collapse has been uploaded to YouTube. One person has been reported missing after the collapse. The area has been covered in snow, ice and debris for several days. The collapse has left a trail of mud and debris through the village.

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3d ago

Glacier Collapse in the Swiss Alps Destroys Most of a Village

At least one person is missing after the village, Blatten, in the Valais Canton in southern Switzerland, was buried beneath debris from the Birch Glacier. The glacier, covered by about nine million tons of debris, was estimated by a government engineer to have been moving about eight to 11 feet a day.

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3d ago

Partial glacier collapse causes landslide that buries 90% of Swiss village

The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village. Authorities had evacuated the village earlier this month as a precaution. A search and rescue operation is underway for the missing man. The regional government said a large chunk of the Birch Glacier above the village had broken off, causing the landslide.

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3d ago

'I lost everything': Swiss residents in shock after glacier debris buries village

Residents were struggling on Thursday to absorb the scale of devastation caused by a huge chunk of glacier that buried most of their picturesque Swiss village, in what scientists suspect is a dramatic example of the impact of climate change on the Alps.

MIDDLE

3d ago

Alpine village is largely destroyed when a Swiss glacier collapses

Video on social media and Swiss TV showed the mudslide near Blatten. Homes and buildings partially submerged under a mass of brownish sludge. Police said a 64-year-old man was reported missing. Search and rescue operations involving a drone with thermal camera were under way.

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3d ago

Satellite images show Swiss village wiped out by glacier collapse

The remote Alpine village of Blatten was flattened after an avalanche of rock, mud and ice was sent crashing down into the valley. Once home to around 300 people, it now lies buried beneath a vast expanse of debris after the Birch Glacier broke off on Wednesday afternoon. Authorities say 90 per cent of the village has been destroyed.

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2d ago

Dramatic footage shows glacier collapse that wiped out 90 percent of Swiss village in "devastating" landslide

The village of Blatten, Switzerland, was almost entirely wiped out by a landslide resulting from glacier collapse on Wednesday. The impact of the collapse was strong enough to register as a 3.1-magnitude earthquake. The landslide left 90 percent of the village buried in mud and debris, raising concerns about additional flooding.

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3d ago

What are the real impacts of melting glaciers? – DW – 05/30/2025

Glaciers around the world are now melting at twice the rate measured just two decades ago. Between 2000 and 2023, they lost an ice mass equivalent to 46,000 Great Pyramids of Giza. Two billion people globally rely on glacial melt for their day-to-day water needs.

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3d ago