Receding waters of China's Yangtze reveal ancient Buddhist statues

BEIJING • Plunging water levels of the Yangtze River have revealed a submerged island in China's south-western city of Chongqing and a trio of Buddhist statues on it that are believed to be 600 years old, Xinhua news agency reported.

The three statues were found on the highest part of the island reef called Foyeliang, initially identified as built during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

One of the statues depicts a monk sitting on a lotus pedestal.

The Yangtze's water levels have been falling rapidly due to a drought and a heatwave in China's south-western region.

Rainfall in the Yangtze basin has been around 45 per cent lower than normal since last month, and high temperatures are likely to persist for at least another week.

As many as 66 rivers across 34 counties in Chongqing have dried up, state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday.

Weeks of baking drought across Europe have also revealed long-submerged treasures.

In Spain, which is suffering its worst drought in decades, archaeologists have been delighted by the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle dubbed the "Spanish Stonehenge" that is usually covered by the waters of a dam. Officially known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal, the stone circle sits fully exposed in one corner of the Valdecanas reservoir, in the central province of Caceres, where the authorities say the water level has dropped to 28 per cent of capacity.

Memories of past droughts have also been rekindled in Germany by the reappearance of so-called hunger stones along the River Rhine. Many such stones have become visible along the banks of Germany's largest river.

Bearing dates and people's initials, their re-emergence is seen by some as a warning and reminder of the hardships people faced during former droughts.

Another of Europe's mighty rivers, the Danube, has fallen to one of its lowest levels in almost a century as a result of the drought, exposing the hulks of more than 20 German warships sunk during World War II near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.

The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.

REUTERS