Van Gogh Painting Stolen from Cairo Museum Due to Poor Security, Officials Say

The theft of a Vincent Van Gogh painting worth about $50m (£32m) from a Cairo museum on Saturday has been blamed on poor security.

Photo: Van Gogh Painting Stolen from Cairo Museum Due to Poor Security, Officials Say

Egypt 's top prosecutor, Abdel Meguid Mahmud, said none of the alarms at the Khalil Museum and only seven out of 43 security cameras were working. He said that the broken alarms and cameras had not worked for some time, BBC News informs.

The artwork – which goes by two titles, Poppy Flowers and Vase With Flowers – was stolen on Saturday. It is the second time the painting has been stolen from the museum. Thieves made off with the canvas in 1978, but authorities recovered it two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait.

Van Gogh is believed to have been painted the canvas in 1887, three years before his death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, The Guardian says.