Human remains found in Blatten

Blatten (c) Swisstopo

Police teams working at the devastated village of Blatten in canton Valais have found human remains.

Homes and buildings were destroyed when millions of tonnes of debris crashed down from the glacier last month.

Police are aware of only one person who’s missing – a 64-year-old man who worked as a shepherd.

He was outside the evacuation zone – but the rockfall exceeded the experts’ expectations and crushed the barn he was in while he tended his sheep.

The body hasn’t yet been formally identified, but the man is the only person who’s listed as missing. 

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