Glacier collapses, destroys 90% of Swiss village
A massive landslide thundered down a mountainside in Switzerland on Wednesday, destroying a village and burying homes under rocks, mud and water. At least one person is missing.
A massive landslide thundered down a mountainside in Switzerland on May 28, wiping out 90% of a village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month. At least one person is missing.
A massive landslide destroyed 90% of Blatten, Switzerland, a town nestled in a valley below a steep mountainside.
"We've lost our village," Blatten Mayor Matthias Bellwald said in the wake of the landslide. "The village is under rubble. We will rebuild."
The landslide was triggered after a part of a glacier in the nearby mountains broke off, which sent a flood of ice, rock and debris charging down the mountainside toward the Alpine village on Wednesday.
Infographic showing the freeze-thaw process that happens in cold areas and can cause rockslides (Graphic by Valentin RAKOVSKY and Sophie RAMIS / AFP via Getty Images)
Fortunately, most of the town's residents had evacuated amid growing concerns about the glacier's instability. However, a 64-year-old man is missing in the wake of the disaster, according to The Associated Press. Search opperations have been suspended due to unsafe conditions.
This photograph taken from Ferden shows a huge landslide next to the village of Wiler, on May 29, 2025, the day after the Birch Glacier collapsed and partially destroyed the small village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Pictures of the town show a thick layer of mud and rocks sitting on the valley floor. Some of the buildings in town avoided a direct hit by the landslide.
To make matters worse, the mud, debris, and rubble have blocked a river that flows through the valley, acting as a dam and causing water to inundate part of the town that was spared by the landslide. When enough water builds up, it could cut a path through the deposit and send water and mud farther down the valley.
This photograph shows the small village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps destroyed by a landslide after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed and swallowed up by the river Lonza the day before, in Blatten on May 29, 2025.(Photo by ALEXANDRE AGRUSTI/AFP via Getty Images)
"Nature is stronger than human beings and mountain people know this well," Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rösti said, according to NPR. "But what happened today is absolutely extraordinary. It was the worst we could've imagined."
The mud and rock from the landslide stretched more than a mile across the valley floor and is several yards thick in the deepest spots.
This photograph taken above Wiler shows the Bietschhorn mountain in the Swiss Alps after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
