CAIRO, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Thursday successfully retrieved three massive artifacts from the Mediterranean Sea off Abu Qir Bay in Alexandria governorate.
The ministry's divers managed to take out three pieces: a colossal quartzite statue of a sphinx bearing the cartouche of King Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC), a broken-necked and broken-kneed granite statue of an unknown person from the late Ptolemaic era (332-30 BC), and a white marble statue of a Roman nobleman.
Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said this operation marks the first of its kind in 25 years.
