Fire engulfs World Heritage castle in Japan's Okinawa

A major fire devastated a historic Japanese castle on the southern island of Okinawa on Thursday morning, destroying large parts of the World Heritage site's complex, local authorities said.

The Shuri castle is a key part of a complex dating back to the Ryukyu Kingdom, and is believed to have been in use from around the 1400s. Most of the current structures are reconstructions based on original plans and photos of the old castle.

The fire was brought under control by early afternoon, a local fire department spokesman told AFP, adding that the blaze had consumed more than 4,800 square metres (51,667 square feet) of the castle complex.

"All the (three) main buildings have burnt down, with nothing left behind," Daisuke Furugen, another official with the Naha fire department, told AFP. On the scene, a local fire spokesman said the blaze had proved extremely difficult to control.

"The radiant heat was very strong. Firefighters had serious difficulty approaching it," he said in comments shown on national broadcaster NHK. It was not yet clear what caused the blaze, which was reported to authorities around 2:40 am. There were no reports of injuries.

The fire started in the elaborate main building of the complex, a grand red structure with traditional tiling on the roof, and spread quickly to nearby buildings. Television footage showed large orange flames engulfing the castle before sunrise, with daylight revealing the extensive damage done to the site. In some cases little more than charred and smoking wood was left behind.

"I am extremely saddened by this. I am utterly in shock," Naha Mayor Mikiko Shiroma told reporters. "We have lost our symbol."
"Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments," the entry on the UNESCO website explains. "The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence for the social structure over much of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age."