The Birch glacier in Switzerland’s southern Valais (Wallis) region collapsed on Wednesday, sending tons of rock, ice and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and into the valley below. It left a village devastated and flooded.
The barrage largely destroyed the hamlet of Blatten, which had been home to 300 people and was evacuated last week due to the impending danger.
The pictures below show the devastation the collapse caused and the subsequent flooding of the houses that remained.
Onlookers observe the aftermath of the landslide from a viewpoint in Wiler as an emergency vehicle sits parked nearby, on the day after a massive glacier collapsed and destroyed the evacuated village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps, on May 29, 2025. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)
This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies created on May 29, 2025, shows the small village of Blatten and its surroundings in the Bietschhorn mountain of the Swiss Alps, Switzerland on May 29, 2025 after it was destroyed the previous day by a landslide after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed and swallowed up by the river Lonza. (Photo by Handout / Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
This photograph shows the small village of Blatten, in the Bietschhorn mountain of 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 FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)
This photograph taken above Wiler shows the landslide after the huge Birch Glacier collapsed the day before and destroyed the evacuated small village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps, on May 29, 2025. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)
This photograph shows the small village of Blatten, in the Bietschhorn mountain of 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)
This photograph taken above Wiler shows the Bietschhorn mountain in the Swiss Alps after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed the day before and destroyed the small village of Blatten, on May 29, 2025. Swiss authorities were on May 29, 2025 monitoring for possible flood risk in a southern valley, following a massive glacier collapse that created a huge pile of debris after destroying a small village. On May 28 the Birch glacier in Switzerland’s southern Wallis region collapsed, sending tons of rock, ice and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and into the valley below. The barrage largely destroyed the hamlet of Blatten, which had been home to 300 people and was evacuated last week due to the impending danger. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)
