Four Renoir paintings worth millions stolen in French museum heist

Two paintings by the impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir have been stolen from a museum in the south of France.

Two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer early on Tuesday, seizing four paintings but dropping two of the works in the museum gardens as they escaped, local Mayor Bryan Masson said.

The paintings, each worth €9m (£7.7m; $10.4m), are the latest high-profile pieces to have been stolen in a string of recent heists in Europe which have thrust the security of art in galleries and museums into the spotlight.

One of the most high-profile was in October last year, when a brazen heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris saw France's priceless crown jewels being stolen.

CCTV footage captured the thieves entering the Renoir museum gardens by cutting through a fence before they cut through structures holding the paintings' frames in place, the local mayor said.

The alarm went off at 05:48 (05:48 GMT), and police were at the scene within five minutes, Masson explained, saying the thieves fled the scene upon hearing the security alarms.

He later told reporters that the thieves seemed to be "well-equipped" and "well-informed".

They were "wearing helmets, gloves, and combat gear" and carrying "an electric knife and hacksaw," he added.

Investigators have found two zip-up bags at the scene, which may have belonged to the suspects.