Stunning images of Swiss village buried by glacier

A centuries-old village disappeared in seconds.

On Wednesday (28/5), the Swiss village of Blatten was virtually destroyed after a huge chunk of a glacier collapsed.

Although the village was evacuated a few days ago due to fears that the Birch Glacier was disintegrating, one person was reported missing and many homes were completely buried.

Blatten Mayor Matthias Bellwald said "the unimaginable has happened" but said the village still has a future.

The village's 300 residents were forced to flee their homes on May 19 after geologists monitoring the area warned that the glacier appeared unstable. Now, many of them may never return.

"What we know is that climate change in high-altitude areas is not conducive to the stability of rocky slopes," explained glaciologist Mylene Jacquemart.

"Therefore, as temperatures rise, more water becomes available through freezing and thawing, and precipitation may fall more frequently as rain than as snow, even in high-altitude areas," he added.

The landslide that swept through Blatten sounded like a deafening roar as it descended into the valley, leaving a huge cloud of dust.

Glaciologists monitoring the melt have warned for years that some Alpine towns could be at risk, and Blatten is not even the first to be evacuated.

Rescue teams using sniffer dogs and thermal scanners searched for a missing 64-year-old man but found nothing.

The search was suspended on Thursday afternoon because the wreckage was too unstable and could trigger further rock slides.

Blatten authorities have promised to rebuild the village, but cleaning up the area is expected to take months or even years.

Meanwhile, communities in the Alps are looking up and wondering what will happen next, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Switzerland.