Several moais, the iconic carved statues of Easter Island, were affected by the flames of a forest fire declared in this Polynesian territory of Chile, authorities confirmed.
“Nearly 60 hectares were affected, including some moai,” Carolina Pérez, undersecretary of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, indicated through Twitter.
On Easter Island, some 3,500 km west of the American continent and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 100 hectares have been grazed by flames since last Monday and the area of the Ranu Raraku volcano was the most affected, Pérez added.
It reopened only three months ago after its health closure due to the covid-19 pandemicbut has again been closed for a team of conservation experts to examine the extent of the damage.
in that area it is estimated that there are several hundred moai within the World Heritage Site and the quarry from which the minerals with which they are sculpted are extracted.
“The damage caused by the fire is irrecoverable,” Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Easter Island, told local media.
There is still no report on the totality of the incident.
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The fire happened three months after the island was reopened to world tourism on August 5 after two years closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the pandemic, Easter Island, whose main livelihood is tourism, received some 160,000 visitors a year, on two daily flights. But, with the arrival of covid-19 in Chile, tourist activity was completely suspended. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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