Valuable wooden statues of Tutankhamun stolen
Looters escaped with two wooden statues of Tutankhamun when they raided the Egyptian Museum as the violence peaked.
A full check of the ¬museum’s historic cabinets revealed that 18 ancient Egyptian artefacts were taken by the thieves.
A handful of people got in through the roof and damaged about 70 objects – many small statues.
Margaret Maitland, an Egyptology expert at Oxford University, says the 3,500-year-old treasures, dug up in 1922, are “very, very valuable”.
The most important missing item is a limestone statue of Pharaoh ¬Akhenaten holding an offering table.
Museum director Tarek el-Awady said: “The position of the king is unique and it’s a beautiful piece of art.”