A devastating wildfire earlier this week caused “immeasurable” damage to a number of Famous Stone Head Statues on Easter Island.
“It’s unmeasurable, it’s not measurable, the damage is there, it’s irreparable,” said Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Easter Island, a province in Chile located 2,000 miles from the coast. “Because what fire does is heat up the rock and it cracks.”
Scientists will visit the island to assess the extent of the damage and determine what they can do to repair or salvage the fire-damaged statues, but Edmonds said there may be no “solution”.
Edmunds also blamed A Lack of support from the Chilean government As a cause of harm, saying that the state remained “absent” and could have helped plan to “prevent these problems.”
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Damaged Moai statues are seen after a massive fire in a provincial park on Easter Island, Chile, in this undated posted photo obtained by Reuters on October 7, 2022.
(Municipality of Rapa Nui / Handout via Reuters)
at this time , Cause of the fire Still unknown, Edmunds said an investigation will be opened into both the cause of the fire and its full damage.
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A preliminary report said the fire started on Tuesday and consumed more than 148 acres, including the Rano Raraku volcanic crater where many of the statues are.
Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Rano Raraco volcano area on Easter Island, Chile on October 6, 2022, in this image obtained from social media.
(Courtesy of Pomperos Isla de Pasqua/via Reuters)
“For us, it is very painful to see how the Moai burned,” said Francisco Hawa, a representative of the Rapa Nui people, adding that the statues are already experiencing slow damage from the weather and that the fire is “accelerating this damage.”
The island, inhabited by approximately 7,750 inhabitants Closed to visitors during the coronavirus pandemic It only reopened to visitors in August of this year.
Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Rano Raraco volcano area on Easter Island, Chile on October 6, 2022, in this image obtained from social media.
(Courtesy of Pomperos Isla de Pasqua/via Reuters)
The mysterious moai statues of Easter Island provide a Big draw for tourists to the islands, which amplifies any loss of stones. The island hosts more than 1,000 statues, which can weigh several tons.
The island successfully won earlier this year a long-running battle to return one of the statues that was removed from Santiago, the capital, in the 19th century, showing how important the statues were to locals. The government is currently in negotiations with other institutions, such as the British Museum, to take back other pieces.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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