An enormous Buddha statue has been broken by a hearth in China’s north-west Gansu province.
Movies shared on social media confirmed the statue on the Nice Buddha Temple of Shandan County surrounded by flames within the early hours of Monday morning.
After the fireplace was extinguished, the statue appeared to stay partially intact, however a number of temple buildings had been destroyed.
The statue was inbuilt 1998 as a reproduction of an unique which is believed to have dated again to round 425 AD. This older iteration was broken throughout China’s Cultural Revolution.
No casualties have been reported thus far and an investigation into the fireplace is underway.