Just as some residents on Friday afternoon were gingerly returning to their homes in Bondo, a village near the Italian border hit by a giant landslide on Wednesday, a new river of mud flooded down the mountainside.
"The people who had returned to their homes were temporarily evacuated," regional Graubunden police said in a statement.
Around 100 people were evacuated from Bondo and two Alpine cabins Wednesday amid fears of fresh landslides, and police only gave the green light around midday Friday for some to return home.
"Minutes later I saw a river of mud descend on the village," he said, adding that houses that previously had a thick layer of mud around their foundation were now all but engulfed by the grey mass.
Also Read
The addition sludge will likely complicate further the massive search and rescue mission underway for eight hikers, from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, who have been missing since Wednesday's landslide.
Police said they had set off in separate groups in the Val Bondasca region where the landslide occurred, apparently ignoring signs recently posted in the village warning of the danger of falling rocks in the area.
Police and residents stressed mobile phone coverage in the area was spotty, voicing hope it could explain why those still missing had not been in touch.
But authorities acknowledged that the likelihood of a happy ending was dwindling fast.
"The chances of survival are not high," local police spokesman Roman Ruegg told reporters Friday.
Swiss President Doris Leuthard, who examined the site from the air today, said the probability that the hikers were dead "is increasing by the hour," Blick reported.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content