The Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment said the collapse was the result of natural erosion.

Ecuadorian environmental officials said that Darwin Arch is a famous natural rock formation in the Galapagos Islands that collapsed into the sea due to erosion.

Photos posted on social media by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment show that the rubble on the top of the vault has collapsed into the ocean, and the two supporting pillars are still standing.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in Spanish on its Facebook page on Tuesday: “We report that the iconic Darwinian arc has collapsed.”

The 43-meter (141-foot) high rock formation named after the British naturalist Charles Darwin is located at the northernmost tip of the Galapagos Islands and is a popular place for divers.

The Arch was once part of the nearby Darwin Island and is known for its diverse underwater life, including a school of hammerhead sharks.

“Obviously, everyone in the Galapagos Islands has nostalgia, because this is something we have been familiar with since childhood, and knowing that its changes are a bit shocking,” the Galapagos Islands Nature Reserve is in charge Said Washington Tapia. “However, from a scientific point of view, this is part of a natural process. The decline must be caused by external factors such as weathering and erosion, which is what usually happens on our planet.”

The Galapagos Islands is a remote volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles (965 kilometers) west of Ecuador. It has a unique flora and fauna that inspired the evolutionary theory of British naturalist Charles Darwin.

234 islands, entrances and rocks are part of the Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. Four of them are homes of approximately 30,000 people.