'Cursed' exhibition makes visitors sick

Three Italian schoolgirls have been taken to hospital after falling under the supposed curse of an Egyptian pharaoh.

The nine-year-olds collapsed with headaches and nausea after visiting the Pharaoh Ini exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Turin.

It is the third time in a year that visitors to the exhibition have become ill, and there have been dozens of other incidents. Many believe the artefacts are cursed.

Police have opened an investigation into the mysterious effect it has been reported.

Investigating procurator Raffaele Guarinello said: "Several people are treating this as a joke but to have so many people falling ill warrants further investigation.

Many of the people who fainted complained of a strange, pungent smell coming from the exhibits.

Dr Federico Signorile, of the Turin hospital where the latest victims are being treated, said: "To have so many people feeling ill in one place is unusual and we shall carry out tests to discover if there are any toxic substances present."

But museum director Anna Maria Donadoni insisted: "We have more than 400,0900 visitors a year and there have only been a handful of cases of people feeling ill. There is nothing strange at all and there is nothing wrong with the museum.

"Above all there is no Pharaoh's curse."