One of Mexico’s famous mummies lost an arm during renovation work at the museum (Picture: AP)
We’ve all had bad days at work, those times when you just wish you’d just stayed in bed to avoid some awful mistake or embarrassment.
Well pity the Mexican government worker who accidentally snapped the arm off a mummy while carrying out renovations at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The mummified individual is one of several buried in the 19th Century and now on display at the museum.
The INAH has since accused the Mexican city of Guanajuato of mistreating the Central American nation’s famous mummified artefacts, and said it would demand answers from the federal government.
The archaeology agency also intends to apply for records of the renovation, the permits, and the government workers involved.
‘These events confirm that the way the museum’s collection was moved is not the correct one and that far from applying proper corrective and conservation strategies, the actions carried out resulted in damages, not only to this body,’ the institute wrote in a statement.
‘It appears that this situation is related to a lack of knowledge about proper protocols and the lack of training of the personnel in charge of carrying out these tasks.’
INAH did not say what or, if any, other bits had fallen off the mummies.
The preserved corpses were unintentionally mummified when they were buried in crypts in a dry, mineral-rich soil environment in the mining state of Guanajuato.
Some still have hair, leathery skin and their original clothing.
King Tutankhamun’s chair was broken during transportation (Picture: Getty)
The incident is far from the only archaeological accident to happen during mundane museum work.
In 2015, a chair belonging to the famous pharaoh King Tutankhamun was broken while being moved from Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
A sarcophagus, an offering table and a marble vessel were also damaged on the journey.
And it isn’t just staff who have accidentally broken priceless artefacts.
In 2017, a ‘historically unique’ 800-year-old stone coffin at the Prittlewell Priory Museum in Southend, Essex, was damaged when a visitor put their child inside it.