The Mattmark Disaster

Credits
Year: 2016
Directed by: Patricia Wagner, Cristina Karrer
Running time: 50 mins

Produced by: Turnus Film AG, Anita Wasser, Michael Steiger
Music: Georg Kochbeck
Cinematography: Quinn Evan Reimann, Vadim Schulz
Editor: Patricia Wagner
Visual effects by: Timo Inderfurth
Broadcast : SRF 1/3Sat
Global sales: BearPit Films AG

Mattmark in Canton Valais, late afternoon on 30th August 1965. Two million cubic metres of ice and debris break away from the Allalin Glacier and crash down onto the workers’ huts that have been erected directly below the tongue of the glacier on the construction site of the then largest dam in Europe. A total of 88 people, including 56 migrant Italian workers and 24 Swiss men die beneath the 30 m high mass of ice and debris.

Initially the incident is treated as a natural disaster – the “might of the mountains” is blamed. But it is not long before the media and the victims’ families begin to question the safety arrangements at the construction site. Only seven years after the disaster, in 1972, the authorities of Canton Valais bring a case to the court in Visp. Seventeen accused, including engineers of the company Mattmark AG as well as officials of Suva (Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund), face a charge of negligent homicide. Only a week after commencement of the trial, they are acquitted of all charges. The reasoning: the possibility of an ice avalanche is far too remote for people to reasonably expect. The argument of unpredictability is upheld on appeal.


Documents seen by the film team show that experts had warned of the risk of a glacial avalanche even before the disaster occurred. The documentary by Patricia Wagner and Cristina Karrer reviews the events and sheds new light on the disaster.

More info click here
© Turnus Film AG