In South Korea, there is a fight against giant fires that broke out last week. On Tuesday, the fire destroyed the buildings of the Gouns temple complex, whose history dates back to the 7th century. Flames are also dangerously approaching other historical buildings.
On Tuesday, the Korean Ministry of the Interior said that fires have so far absorbed about 14.6 thousand hectares of forests in the southeast of the country. Four people were killed from Friday as a result of fires, at least 11 were injured. 3.3 thousand people were forced to leave the houses.
“The forests are burning in three poviats of the South Gyeongsang province, in one poviat of the province of North Gyeongsang and in one poviat of Ulsan province,” he told the internal affairs of the Dong of the internal affairs. He emphasized that the firefighting action is hindered by strong gusts of wind and low air humidity.
“Sea of fire”
The portal “The Korea Herald” reported that on Tuesday afternoon the fire consumed the Buddhist Temple of Gounes in the Uiseong poviat. It was built in 681 of our era, in a historically turbulent period of the Three Korea kingdoms. The fire also damaged the surrounding buildings from the 19th century. The works of art and sacred buildings gathered in the temple were saved.
– I did not expect the temple to be in flames, it was enough for less than half an hour to be overwhelmed by a sea of fire – one of the faithful told Reuters.
This is not the only monument that the fire threatens. On Tuesday, firefighters secured the area around the Hahoe open -air museum, located near the city of Andong. Perfectly preserved buildings from the 14th and 15th centuries were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Another monument is located nearby, the building of the Confucian School from the 17th century.
Destroyed temple complex in KoreaReuters/Uiseong County Office
Difficult fight against fire
The authorities announced that 110 helicopters and 6.7 thousand firefighters were mobilized for firefighting operations on Tuesday. Railway traffic is suspended on many lines in the south-eastern regions of the country, and highways were closed.
Minister Ko pointed out that this year there were a total of 234 forest fires throughout the country, and most of them were caused by the fire of the fire by tourists on mountain trails and the burning of agricultural or garbage by -products.
PAP, Reuters, The Korea Herald
Source of the main photo: Reuters/Uiseong County Office