Swiss alpine village mostly destroyed in partial glacier collapse
A huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier thundered down a Swiss mountainside on Wednesday, sending plumes of dust skyward and coating with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution.
Article content
Article content
Video on social media and Swiss TV showed the mudslide near Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, with homes and buildings partially submerged under a mass of brownish sludge. Regional police said a 64-year-old man was reported missing, and search and rescue operations involving a drone with a thermal camera were underway.
Article content
BREAKING: Massive Glacier Collapse in Blatten, Valais (Switzerland) – May 28, 2025
Over 3.5 million m³ of ice, rock, and snow collapsed from the Birch Glacier, putting 9 million tons of pressure on the glacier.
The entire village of Blatten (approx. 300 people) was evacuated in… pic.twitter.com/ntmV35GL8o
— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) May 28, 2025
Article content
Article content
'What I can tell you at the moment is that about 90 per cent of the village is covered or destroyed, so it's a major catastrophe that has happened here in Blatten,' Stephane Ganzer, the head of security in the southern Valais region, told local TV channel Canal9.
Article content
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.
Article content
Aerial footage of Blatten in Switzerland after glacier collapse. pic.twitter.com/TsmSXhUgIa
— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) May 29, 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Rescue review: Ground Search and Rescue welcomes consultation with N.S. government
Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) teams in Nova Scotia are busier than ever and now the province is interested in taking a closer look at their growing workload and finding better ways to support them. Halifax GSAR says their call volume has nearly doubled to 31 incidents and 4,440 operation hours logged this year alone, up from 17 calls for service and 2,670 hours during the same time period between April 1 and June 4 in 2024. The team's emergency response work once focused solely on missing persons. That has expanded into a wider range of emergencies. In Halifax GSAR volunteers assist the municipality by doing wellness checks for the city's growing homeless populations and finding shelter for people during a storm. 'We're not just responding to missing persons calls anymore,' said Halifax GSAR chief director Paul Service. 'We're active participants in the fire response, like the wildfire response, and we we're active participants in the flash flooding situation,' One of the largest ongoing search and rescue efforts in the province is for six-year-old Lilly and four-year-old Jack Sullivan who went missing from their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S., on May 2. Colchester GSAR have been leading the volunteer effort in the thick forest around the children's home which expanded beyond the initial search area even after RCMP reduced their exhaustive air, ground and water search. There are 23 GSAR teams across the province and many of the 1,200 trained volunteers have been involved in the search for the missing siblings. Large-scale searches and natural disasters like flash floods and wildfires have tested volunteer search teams but they also face financial challenges. The teams are required to fundraise to keep operations going. 'We're really struggling on the back side,' said Service. 'Volunteers only have so many hours that they can give to the community before it starts to take a toll on them.' In a letter from the province's department of emergency management, deputy minister Sandra McKenzie said they have hired a consultant to determine what kind work the GSAR teams do and assess how the province can better support their effort. 'As we stand up the new department, we are interested to engage with GSAR teams and better understand the evolving role GSAR teams play in Emergency Management,' wrote McKenzie in the letter. That's welcome news for Service, who says there's currently no clear work arrangement in place with the province. 'We're looking for a strategic plan,' said Service. 'We need to know where we are going and how we fit into the equation and from there developing a funding model as to how we can go forward and offer those services.' Funding is crucial right now. Halifax GSAR said they need a new command truck – which comes with a $600,000 price tag. Service says most of their funding comes from the Halifax Regional Municipality which gave them $90,000 last year towards their operating budget. The bulk of their donations come from their annual fundraising campaign which usually brings in $50,000 or more. Dartmouth councillor and police board commissioner Tony Mancini calls search teams essential. He said it's time for better coordination between all levels of government and more support to make it easier for search teams to operate on the ground. 'Policy is part of it and we need to have strong governance and policy around the search and rescue,' said Mancini. 'And even as a municipality I think we can step up our support for them.' For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CBC
4 days ago
- CBC
Teen dies after falling through ice near Pangnirtung, Nunavut
A 15-year-old boy is dead after he and two other people fell through the ice near Pangnirtung, Nunavut. In a news release on Tuesday, RCMP say they received a report last Thursday evening of three young males who went through the ice near the floe edge about 12 kilometres from the community. The release says search and rescue volunteers from Pangnirtung led the recovery efforts with help from police. RCMP say two of the three young men managed to escape the water. The body of the 15-year-old was found in the water a few hours later. RCMP and the Nunavut coroner are still investigating.
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Quebec police continue search for woman who fell off raft
A 29-year-old woman is missing after falling off a raft on the Rivière Rouge near Grenville-sur-la-Rouge. (Pedro Querido/CTV News) Quebec provincial police are continuing their search of the Rivière Rouge near Grenville-sur-la-Rouge in the Laurentians region Tuesday after a 29-year-old woman fell off a raft and never reappeared. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) says it received a 911 call at 4 p.m. Sunday about the incident. 'Immediately, police were sent to that area, plus emergency services,' said Marc Tessier, a spokesperson with the SQ. 'The company also, when it happened, tried to locate her immediately, and in the meantime, they called us.' He notes search and rescue operations include a helicopter, all-terrain vehicles (ATV), drones, divers and people on foot. 'We had boats near the bridge on Highway 50 to go upstream,' Tessier states, adding that operations were paused during the night. 'We have good communication with the family to let them know every update, every measure that we are able to do.' Rafting Quebec provincial police are continuing their search of the waters of the Rivière Rouge near Grenville-sur-la-Rouge after a 29-year-old woman fell off a raft and never reappeared. (Pedro Querido/CTV News) He explains that the decision to continue a search is evaluated at the end of each day. 'You have to understand that we have experts on the ground,' said Tessier. 'They know what they're use everything and every equipment at our disposal to find that person, quickly.' Tessier also confirmed that other people saw the woman go overboard and fail to resurface. The company hosting the expedition, New World Rafting, tells CTV News that it is cooperating with police but would not be commenting further. 'Our thoughts are with her loved ones,' the company wrote in an e-mail. 'Psychosocial support has been put in place for staff and family.' The woman was wearing a helmet and a life vest at the time of the incident. With files from CTV News' Denise Roberts.
