“Irreversible” damage has been caused to the Great Wall of China by two workers looking for a shortcut, police in China have said.
A 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman were arrested after using an excavator to dig a hole through a section of the 13,170 mile (21,200 km) structure, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
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They dug a “big gap” by extending an existing cavity of the Great Wall in order to “save the distance of travel”, the statement says.
Police were alerted to the damage after receiving multiple reports that there was a huge gap in the wall.
The damage reportedly took place in Youyu county at a section known as the 32nd Great Wall, which dates back to the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644).
The Great Wall of China was constructed over 2,000 years from around 220BC until the Ming Dynasty in the 1600s. Today it is a UNESCO world heritage site attracting more than 10 million tourists each year.
According to a 2016 report from the Beijing Times, more than 30 percent of the wall constructed under the Ming Dynasty has disappeared entirely. Only 8 percent of the remaining wall is considered to be well preserved.
