Easter Island is known for its moai, the hundreds of sacred statues that cover the island. On Sunday, a pickup truck rolled down a hill and crashed into one of them, damaging the statue and its platform. The island’s cultural heritage organization, Ma’u Henua, posted photographs of the crash on its Facebook page.
The truck was reportedly unoccupied, though according to CNN, the owner was arrested. Faulty brakes were blamed for the incident.
The Ma’u Henua organization called the crash “seriously damaging,” and said that the statues, “are not only archaeological vestiges. They are sacred elements for a living and fundamental culture.”
The island has just under 900 of the statues, many of which sit on structural platforms called ahu. Several of the statues have fallen, either from natural disasters like earthquakes or during a civil struggle in the 18th century.