Tourist Leaps into 18-Foot Pit, Damages 2,000-Year-Old Statues Before Being Apprehended

The shocking moment at the Museum of the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang was caught on camera as other tourists looked on.

NEED TO KNOW

A male tourist jumped into a pit at the Museum of the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in Shaanxi, China, on May 30. The man was described as a 30-year-old “domestic tourist” by local authorities, who said he struggled with “mental illness.” The man was later contained by security, and the museum was shut down for the rest of the day.

Millennia-old artifacts have been damaged after a tourist visiting the Museum of the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in Shaanxi, China, leapt over a guardrail and into a pit.

On May 30, the tourist fell 18 feet into one of the pits where the figures of the historic Terracotta Army are located. The man was seen falling before getting up and damaging the statues. The man “pushed and pulled” the clay warriors, and two were “damaged to varying degrees,” local authorities told The Guardian in a statement.

In footage obtained by PEOPLE, the man was then videotaped lying down on the ground, holding his arms over his head. Authorities told The Guardian that the man was “controlled” by security at the scene.

Eyewitness Xiao Lin told NewsFlare that the tourist jumped into the excavated pit, landing on a middle level before jumping further down to the bottom. Lin said fellow tourists shouted, “What are you doing?” to the man.

“Later, the museum was closed, and we were evacuated by staff,” Lin told NewsFlare.

Authorities told The Guardian that the perpetrator was a “domestic tourist” and identified him as a 30-year-old man. The Guardian said the man is known to “suffer from mental illness,” and the case is currently being investigated.

PEOPLE has reached out to local authorities for comment on the situation and has not heard back.

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta soldiers discovered in 1974 by a group of local farmers. The “funeral art” of around 8,000 different figures is believed to have been created sometime in the 200s BC and guarded the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

The museum was constructed over top of the discovery to display the impressive find to the public.

Despite the damage, the Museum of the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is currently still open to the public.