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.

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.

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.