A huge blaze has engulfed and destroyed a 16-story wooden tower, known as the tallest of its kind in Asia, after a fire raged through a monastery in Sichuan Province, southwest China.
The fire started at the Lingguan Mansion complex, a Buddhist monastery in the township of Mianzhu, at around 12.40pm, local authorities stated via Chinese social networking platform Weibo. Firefighters managed to put out the flames four hours later, by which point the pagoda and prayer hall had been entirely razed to the ground.
The monastery had been built during the Ming dynasty and had previously collapsed in a 2008 earthquake, and restoration work was still underway when Sunday’s fire broke out. What exactly started the flames is still unknown, and authorities are expected to launch a full investigation. No casualties have been reported.