GENEVA (Reuters) -A huge chunk of a glacier in the Swiss Alps broke off on Wednesday afternoon causing a deluge of ice and rock to crash onto a mountain village evacuated earlier this month due to the risk of a rockslide, authorities said.
“An unbelievable amount of material thundered down into the valley,” said Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for local authorities, adding that he was unaware of any human casualties so far.
Buildings and infrastructure in Blatten, which was evacuated after authorities identified the risk of an imminent avalanche of rock and ice from the slopes above, were hit hard by the rockslide, Ebener said.
Swiss authorities have been keeping a close eye on the mountainsides above Blatten, a village of around 300 people in the Loetschental valley in southern Switzerland, since ordering residents to abandon their homes on May 19.
A video shared widely on social media showed the dramatic moment when the glacier partially collapsed, creating a huge cloud that covered part of the mountain as rock and debris came rumbling down into the outskirts of the village.
(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Dave Graham)
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