Near miss as rock slide hits evacuated Swiss Alpine village
A massive rock and ice avalanche in the Swiss Alps sent plumes of dust soaring into the sky on Wednesday, near the village of Blatten. Authorities had evacuated the village earlier this month as a precautionary measure.
Social media footage captured the rumbling mudslide as it cascaded down the southern Lötschental valley. Images from the scene showed several cabins partially submerged in the debris.
In recent days, authorities had ordered the evacuation of approximately 300 residents and all livestock from the village. This action was prompted by concerns that a 1.5 million cubic meter glacier situated above Blatten was in danger of collapsing.
Local authorities were deploying by helicopter and across the area to assess the damage and whether there has been any casualties, Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesman for the Lötschental crisis center, told The Associated Press by phone.
In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide.
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