Easter Island's towering stone heads and other archeological elements have been charred by a fire, according to local Indigenous and Chilean authorities.
FILE - Statues of heads known as 'Moais' stand at Rano Raraku, the quarry on Easter Island or Rapa Nui, Chile, on August 2012.
Ariki Tepano, who serves as the director of the indigenous Ma'u Henua community which manages the Rapa Nui Natural Park, described the damage as "irreparable" and warned that the "consequences go beyond what the eyes can see," in a statement Thursday. Chile's Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage Carolina Pérez Dattari said that officials from the country's National Monuments Council "are on the ground assessing the damages" from the fire on the island's sacred stone figures.
Not long before the coronavirus pandemic put a pause on travel, Easter Island was grappling with a series of