China Central Television reported that police arrested a man and a woman who demolished part of the Great Wall of China with an excavator to create a "shortcut."

The police station in Yuyou County, located in Shuchou City in Shanxi Province, Central China, received a report on August 24 indicating a breach in a section of the Great Wall of China. When police arrived at the scene, they discovered that the gap had formed as a result of using a large excavator.

After examining the traces left by the equipment, police found the excavator along with a man and a woman in the neighboring Helinger County, located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Upon interrogating them, it became clear that a 38-year-old man named Cheng and a 55-year-old woman named Wang, who were working in construction near the archaeological site, had decided to dig a passage through the wall to "shorten the distance" to their workplace.

It is also noted that the actions of the man and woman caused significant and irreparable damage to a part of the wall that was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).