McDonald's asked to return mummies to Egypt

A McDonald's restaurant in Staffordshire has been asked to return a pair of mummies buried in its foundations to Egypt.

The fast-food eatery in Tamworth has been established as the final resting place of two mummies excavated from Egypt at the end of the 19th century.

Local reverend William MacGregor displayed the mummies at a museum in his home of Bolehall Manor, but was forced to bury them in 1935 when the bodies started to decay.

According to The Scotsman, MacGregor asked for the mummies to be placed in the foundations of cinema being constructed in the town, which has since been turned into a McDonald's.

"I think it's important to study them and I would suggest that someone is invited to look at them," said Dr Zahi Hawass, director of the Pyramids region in Cairo. "They should be given to a museum or handed back to Egypt."

However, a spokesperson for McDonald's claimed that a mission to retrieve the mummies was simply not viable.

"It is something we were completely unaware of, but it is fascinating," they said. "We understand they are well within the foundations so an excavation is out of the question, unfortunately."