(NewsNation) — Two people accused of using an excavator on a section of the Great Wall of China and causing damage “beyond repair” have been arrested, China Daily reported.
CNN reported that the Shanxi Cultural Relics Bureau shared in a social media post that the suspects are a 38-year-old man with the last name Zheng and a 55-year-old woman with the last name Wang.
They are accused of using machinery to “widen a gap on a section of the No 32 Great Wall in Youyu county in late August.” They have been charged with destroying a cultural relic, China Daily reported.
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After they were contracted to do construction near the wall, they allegedly admitted to using the excavator to make it easier to pass through, China Daily reported.
The wall was built during China’s imperial Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644).
“The Great Wall was continuously built from the 3rd century BC to the 17th century AD on the northern border of the country as the great military defense project of successive Chinese Empires, with a total length of more than 20,000 kilometers,” according to UNESCO’s website.
