On December 10, a fire broke out at the Lingguan Mansion complex in Mianzhu, China's Sichuan province. The flames were extinguished about four hours later, by which time a 16-story wooden pagoda and a prayer hall at the Buddhist temple were burnt to the ground, local government reported in a statement published on Weibo.
A 16-story wooden tower, known as the tallest of its kind in Asia, has caught fire and collapsed at a monastery in SW China's Sichuan on Sunday. No casualties reported yet. Cause of fire under investigation. pic.twitter.com/8fmPcrrwqu
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) 10 декабря 2017 г.
Several videos were shared online, showing bright flames and black smoke ripping through the temple's pagoda as it falls to pieces.
There were no casualties reported, authorities said in the statement. The cause of the blaze is still unknown and an investigation is underway.
According to local media reports, the original Lingguan Mansion was built during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and destroyed in a magnitude 8 earthquake that hit Sichuan in 2008. The temple with what was considered to be the tallest wooden tower in Asia, was later restored but remained under construction when the fire broke out.
