Inventory Shows 18 Items Missing After Looting of the Egyptian Museum

Fortunately, none were from the most valuable items in the gated room containing the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun.

CAIRO — A full inventory of the Egyptian Museum has found that looters escaped with 18 items during the anti-government unrest, including two gilded wooden statues of famed boy king Tutankhamun, the antiquities chief said Sunday.

The 18-day uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak engulfed the areas around the museum, on the edge of Cairo's Tahrir Square. On Jan. 28, as protesters clashed with police early on in the turmoil and burned down the adjacent headquarters of Mubarak's ruling party, a handful of looters climbed a fire escape to the museum roof and lowered themselves on ropes from a glass-paneled ceiling onto the museum's top floor.

Around 70 objects — many of them small statues — were damaged, but until Sunday's announcement, it was not known whether anything was missing.

3,300-year-old tomb of the ancient Egyptian capital's mayor rediscovered

This tomb was first found in the 19th century and partially looted, but the location was lost and it was covered by sand. Now, Archaeologists have found the location again.

Ancient mayor's 'lost tomb'

Egypt's landmark nature preserve under threat (video)

Egypt's landmark nature preserve under threat (video)

The region of Fayoum to the east of Cairo is becoming a favourite spot for vacationers, who enjoy water sports. Numerous building projects are going up to cater to their needs on the banks of Lake Qarun. But the resorts threaten birds, who for years have used the wetlands as a nesting ground.