Shocking footage shows giant Buddha statue engulfed in flames in China – with blaze destroying several historic temple buildings that surrounded it

Shocking footage shows the moment a 130ft-high wooden Buddha was engulfed in flames and burnt to the ground in China.

Video shows fire raging at the Great Buddha Temple in Shandan, north-west Gansu province, with a giant wooden structure at the centre of the complex ablaze.

The Grand Hall of the Dafo (Big Buddha) monument, a seven-storey, 90ft-wide outbuilding of the temple, stood little chance against the raging inferno.

It housed a giant clay Buddha, China’s largest, which was exposed and appeared partly damaged in social media images of the aftermath of the fire.

The monument, a seven-storey, 90-foot-wide outbuilding of the temple, stood little chance against the raging inferno

Pictures of the aftermath show the giant clay Buddha, which is seated on a huge lotus leaf, rising out of the ashes of its cremated protective wooden cover

While the wooden structure was decimated, the temple ruins, some of which date back as much as 1,500 years, were not damaged in the fire, authorities said. 

A total of 46 firefighters and nine fire trucks battled the blaze on Monday morning, and the fire was fully contained by 10am. 

The cause of the fire is, as yet, undetermined, and is being investigated by authorities.

Pictures of the aftermath show the giant clay Buddha, which is seated on a huge lotus leaf, rising out of the ashes of its cremated protective wooden cover.

The Buddha is around 155 feet tall while the flower is 10 feet high. 

The statue was built in 1998 as a replica of an original which is believed to have dated back to around 425AD. 

The temple was first built during the Northern Wei Dynasty, which spanned the years 386-534. 

A view of damage caused from a fire in the wooden structure of the Grand Hall of the Dafo (Big Buddha) Temple in Zhangye, Gansu Province

The cause of the fire is, as yet, undetermined, and is being investigated by authorities

A total of 46 firefighters and nine fire trucks battled the blaze on Monday morning, and the fire was fully contained by 10am

It then underwent a number of renovations during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. 

The attraction had a 4A grading – the second-highest level for tourist sites in China. 

The original version was damaged during China’s Cultural Revolution, a decade-long social upheaval in the 60s and 70s which saw organised religion targeted and almost two million people killed.

 A statement released on Tuesday confirmed that there were no casualties in the fire and that the temple’s cultural relics remained undamaged.