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Fire Engulfs 500-Year-Old Shuri Castle World Heritage Site In Japan

Fire Engulfs 500-Year-Old Shuri Castle World Heritage Site In Japan

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

A fire has engulfed Shuri Castle, a 500-year-old Unesco World Heritage site in Japan.

Firefighters have been tackling the blaze at the 14th Century site on the southern island of Okinawa since early Thursday and no injuries have been reported as of yet.

The main building, as well as the north and south structures, have burned to the ground, according to local media. A response from the emergency services was triggered after a security company alarm sounded at 2.30am, but the cause of the fire is yet to be determined.

Officials said a festival that began on 27 October was being held at the site and preparatory work for some of the event had been ongoing until 1am, however, it is not yet clear whether these works were anything to do with the blaze.

Daisuke Furugen, an official with the local Naha fire department, told AFP: "All the [three] main buildings have burnt down, with nothing left behind.

"Efforts to extinguish the fire are continuing, with 30 fire engines and some 100 firefighters involved.

"We have no reports of injuries."

World Heritage site Shuri Castle has been destroyed by a fire.
PA

The wooden castle - built during the Ryukyu Dynasty - was designated as the country's national treasure in 1933. It was almost completely destroyed in a battle during World War Two but was extensively restored using photographs and drawings taken before the war, reopening in 1992.

The castle is located on top of a hill and overlooks the city of Naha, the capital of Okinawa, and holds a deep symbolic significance to the people there. As 84-year-old resident Tomoko Miyazato, who watched the castle as it burned, put it: "For us, Shuri Castle is like a god."

The mayor of Naha Mikiko Shiroma said: "I am extremely saddened by this. I am utterly in shock. We have lost our symbol.

"Naha city will make our greatest possible efforts to do everything in our power [to deal with the fire and its aftermath]."

The castle was almost completely destroyed during World War Two.
PA

A description of Shuri Castle on the UNESCO website reads: "Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments.

"The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence for the social structure over much of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age."

The castle had been scheduled as a stop on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relay route.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: World News, Japan, World News, Japan