Easter Egg Island’s Maui statutes “Irreversibly ruined” after wildfires

Some of the ancient statutes in Rapa Nui National Park on Easter Island have been damaged beyond repair in a wildfire says authorities.

The extreme wildfire has burned away more than 247 acres of land on the island and Ariki Tepano, director of the Ingenous Ma’u Henua community explained that the damage was “irreparable and with consequences beyond what your eyes can see — totally burned”.

The cause of the fire is unknown for the moment but Rapa Nui’s mayor (Mayor Pedtro Edmunds Paoa of Rapa Nui) told Radio Pauta that he believed the fire was “not an accident.” However, a hot weather causing dry plants and grass allow the fire to spread quickly and vastly.

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, sits in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile, and is among the world’s most remote inhabited islands.

The island has drawn more than 100,000 annual visitors in recent years. Tourists have long been curious about the haunting ancient monolithic statues, called moai, around 900 of which dot the landscape in Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The sculptures’ long faces stare across the lush landscape, which is home to more than 300 ceremonial platforms and structures related to agriculture…