The Valais local government said the damage is "considerable," with one person missing and homes under debris.

A cascade of events in the Swiss Alps led to the dramatic collapse of the Birch glacier, wiping out Blatten village in the valley below, glaciologists and geoscientists told AFP on Friday.

The small Swiss Alps village of Blatten was largely destroyed when the Birch glacier collapsed and sent a mass of rock, ice and scree hurtling down into the valley it was located. Although one

The bodies of five skiers have been found on a glacier above the Swiss resort town of Zermatt, authorities said, and another person was killed following an avalanche in a village north of there.