Flames engulf giant Buddha statue housed in ancient Chinese temple

An ancient giant Buddha statue in China was engulfed in flames just a year after state-of-the-art fire prevention tech was installed. Footage shows the 1,500-year-old sacred statue at the Shandan Great Buddha Temple in Gansu province amid a fiery inferno in the early morning hours of July 24. The statue itself was visibly exposed with some areas of its body seemingly blackened by smoke and cracked by the intense heat. Firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire by 10 am. A total of 46 firefighters and nine fire trucks were reportedly involved in the operation. Video captured after the blaze was put out shows the devastated state of the temple and several of its structures destroyed. Incredibly, the Buddha statue remained almost intact and no one was injured. Local authorities said the temple's wall ruins were perfectly preserved. The cause of the fire is still unknown. The Shandan Great Buddha Temple is a national 4A-level tourist attraction. Originally built during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), it comprised a seven-storey wooden building and stood at 127 feet tall (39 metres), 100 feet (30 metres) long and 88 feet (27 metres) wide. The temple housed the country's biggest indoor Buddha clay statue, measuring 114 feet (35 metres) tall and sitting on a ten-foot- (three-metre-) tall lotus pedestal. Along with the Zhangye gigantic reclining Buddha and Wuwei standing Buddha statues, they are collectively known as the Three Great Buddhas of Hexi Corridor, found in a series of oases running through Gansu.