Unidentified vandals have knocked a mermaid sculpture off its pedestal in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) into the River Irtysh, it was stated on Thursday by Vasily Akimov, a diver of the city rescue station, Interfax reports.
He said that the only reason the statue did not sink was because it had fallen on ice. The police and rescuers have put it back in its place.
The heroine of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale has been vandalized several times. One of its fingers was broken and tail damaged by tourists taking photos in 2013. It was put back after a few months of reconstruction, gaining oriental face features and ornaments.
In April 2014, vandals knocked it off the pedestal. The statue was reconstructed again and welded to the pedestal.
The sculpture has become a popular attraction for newlyweds and tourists, local fisherman say they get a good catch in the nearby area.
