Damaged Moai statues are seen after a wildfire at a local park in Easter Island, Chile, in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on October 7, 2022. Rapa Nui Municipality/Handout via REUTERS
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A number of Easter Island's iconic 'Moai' stone statues suffered irreparable damage after a wildfire swept through the island earlier this week, the island's mayor told Reuters on Friday.
"It's unquantifiable, unmeasurable, the damage there is, it's irrecoverable," said Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Easter Island, a territory of Chile. "Because what the fire does is heat the rock and the rock cracks."
