A giant Buddha statue has been damaged by a fire in China’s north-west Gansu province.
Videos shared on social media showed the statue at the Great Buddha Temple of Shandan County surrounded by flames in the early hours of Monday morning.
After the fire was extinguished, the statue appeared to remain partially intact, but several temple structures were destroyed.
The statue was built in 1998 as a replica of an original which is thought to have dated back to around 425 AD. This older iteration was damaged during China’s Cultural Revolution.
No casualties have been reported so far and an investigation into the fire is underway.
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