August 27, 2007	Monday	Sha’aban 13, 1428

CAIRO, Aug 26: European diplomats in four-wheel drive cars have caused millions of dollars worth of damage to a fossilised whale lying for millions of years in the Egyptian desert, a security source said on Sunday.

“Whale Valley officials have informed the authorities that people from two diplomatic corps vehicles destroyed the fossil,” the source said after the destruction was discovered around 150 kilometres south of Cairo.

Two cars drove into the protected area on Friday and then refused to stop when asked to do so by wardens who nevertheless got the vehicles' registration numbers which the source said were from “a European country.” “The damage is more than $10 million,” the source said.

The site, known as Wadi Hitan (Whale Valley), was home to whales around 40 million years ago when the area was ocean. It is a Unesco World Heritage site and home to hundreds of of whale fossils.—AFP