Easter Island's renowned Moai statues were recently damaged by fire, according to a report from IFLScience. The enormous sacred Moai statues, shaped like large heads and erected by early Easter Island inhabitants, are dispersed throughout the island and have been regarded as a tourist attraction.
Fire Damaged Sacred Moai Statues
The Moai are monolithic human figures sculptured by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia. The figures were carved by the natives and placed in a ring around the island, facing inward, sometime between 1400 and 1650.
On Easter Day in 1722, Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to set foot on Easter Island. The Europeans were perplexed by the island's famous monumental stone statues that stood up to 33 feet tall.
This recent horrible event only adds to the mystery surrounding the ancient monuments, as local officials claim an arsonist started the fire. The big fire that caused serious damage to the erected monuments is still under investigation, and officials have yet to release a full tally of damages.
The park authorities revealed in a statement that the fire caused more than 100 hectares of fire-stricken areas in the Rano Raraku section of the island. Rapa Nui national park officials also stated they were short on personnel to help extinguish the raging fire. This, they claimed, was another reason why the fires were not controlled right away.
The Provincial Presidential Delegation also called a special meeting with the island's top officials to discuss how to address this issue.
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According to Aljazeera, there are several hundred moai in the affected area, as well as the quarry where the stone used to shape the sculptures was extracted. The fire occurred only three months after the island reopened to tourists on Aug. 5, following a two-year closure due to the pandemic.
The Official States Possible Foul Play
Rapa Nui mayor Pedro Edmunds told local media that the fire was "not an accident" and that humans cause most fires in Rapa Nui. According to The Guardian, Easter Island received 160,000 visitors per year on two daily flights prior to the pandemic.
The local executive told Pauta that several of the Moais are "semi-buried, and that is what saves them," and yet "those on the surface were reached by fire; there are several, but one is enough." He also made clear that the figures' damage is "irreparable."
Edmunds also accused the Chilean government of ignoring preservation efforts. The mayor claimed that the incident could have been avoided if the government had paid more attention to the "largest open-air museum in the world," adding that "it (Moai) is the most relevant thing Chile has, and it is not taken care of."
The mayor also claimed that in order to prevent fires, the government should station permanent guards at the locations.
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