A significant smoke incident occurred at the Einsiedeln Monastery in Switzerland on Thursday morning, prompting an alert from Alert Swiss.

Residents were advised to close windows and doors and turn off ventilation systems due to the heavy smoke emanating from the monastery's wood chip heating system.

The local fire department quickly responded and managed to control the situation.

The smoke was traced back to a malfunction in the heating system, which operates on wood chips.

Although the cause of the malfunction remains unknown, there is no threat to the public or the environment.

Fortunately, no major damage has been reported, and the monastery itself was not on fire.