Giant mysterious statues of Easter Island damaged by forest fire

“Damage caused by fire cannot be repaired”

The fire on Easter Island caused “irreparable” damage to the famous moai statues. The forest fire engulfed more than 100 hectares of the national park, with some monolithic statues “completely burned.” Experts are sounding the alarm because of the state of ancient sculptures.

Authorities said a wildfire that engulfed part of Easter Island burned some of its monumental stone carvings, known as moai.

According to The Guardian, the flames engulfed the Rapa Nui National Park, located 3,500 km from the west coast of Chile, causing “irreparable” damage to archaeological sites.

“More than 100 hectares have been affected in the Rano Raraku sector, which includes wetlands and the moai sector,” the national park said in a statement on its official social media page on Thursday.

Carolina Perez, deputy minister for cultural heritage, said the island, located 3,500 kilometers off Chile’s west coast, had been hit hard by fire since Monday.

On Easter Island (Rapa Nui) there are more than 1000 stone statues – giant heads, which are believed to have been first carved in the 13th century by the indigenous inhabitants of the island. The area around Rano Raraku Volcano, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was reported to be the hardest hit.

It is estimated that there are several hundred moai in the area, and the fire also affected the quarry where the stone from which the sculptures were carved is mined.

Ariki Tepano, director of the Mau Henua community in charge of managing and maintaining the park, called the damage “irreparable”. “The moai are completely charred and you can see how the fire affects them,” he said.

Easter Island Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa said he believed the fire was not “an accident”, telling local radio broadcaster Radio Pauta that “all fires in Rapa Nui are caused by humans”.

“The damage caused by the fire cannot be repaired,” added Edmunds Paoa. “A cracked original and symbolic stone cannot be restored, no matter how many millions of euros or dollars are invested in it.”

The park said a “lack of volunteers” prevented authorities from bringing the fire under control. The overall damage to the facility has yet to be assessed.

The fire came just three months after the island was reopened to tourism on August 5 after two years of closure due to Covid-19.

Prior to the pandemic, tourism-based Easter Island hosted 160,000 visitors a year with two daily flights.

But with the advent of Covid-19 in Chile, tourism activity on the island has completely stopped.

Rapa Nui was inhabited by Polynesians for a long time before Chile annexed it in 1888. The monuments are believed to represent the living ancestors of the Easter Island Polynesians and were once associated with ritual activities, forming a hub for communities.