28-05-2025
Mudslide hits Swiss Alpine village which was evacuated days earlier
A huge mass of rock and ice has caused damage near a village in the Swiss Alps that authorities evacuated earlier this month as a precaution.
Video on social media showed the rumbling mudslide near Blatten, in the southern Lotschental valley. Images from the scene appeared to show several cabins partially submerged.
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In recent days the authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock from the village, amid fears that a 1.5 million cubic metre glacier above the village was at risk of collapse.
Villagers were evacuated (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
Local authorities were deploying across the area to assess the damage and whether there has been any casualties, Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesman for the Lotschental crisis centre, said.
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.
