Still danger: the lake that has submerged Blatten could spill over into the villages downstream

In the Loetschental valley in Switzerland, where the Birch glacier collapsed on Wednesday afternoon, destroying much of the village of Blatten, the situation remains dramatic and difficult for the rescue team. A 64-year-old man is missing and due to geological instability, the search was temporarily suspended yesterday.

Following the landslide of ice, earth and debris, attention is now on the lake that formed upstream of the landslide and which continues to fill. The regional general staff of Gampel-Steg stated in the last few hours that the "population of the Gampel and Steg localities must be prepared to leave their homes quickly in the event of an emergency" asking "those affected to organize accommodation in advance outside the valley floor and the perimeter of Gampel/Steg". The tremors caused by the collapse of the Birch glacier were detected by all seismic stations in the country with a magnitude of 3.1.