Maine tour group was inside the Louvre during brazen jewel heist:

French officials insist the Louvre’s security measures were working properly when eight precious crown jewels – worth more than $100 million – were stolen in broad daylight from the world’s most visited museum in Paris. 

Investigators say the heist lasted fewer than eight minutes, and the thieves were only inside the building half of that time. 

“Quite honestly we were scared to death. We thought it was worse. We thought it was like a terrorist attack or something,” Curt Dale Clark recalled.

Tour group forcefully pushed back

Dozens of travelers from the Maine State Music Theatre were inside the Louvre walking toward the Apollo Gallery Sunday morning when suddenly, their tour group was forcefully pushed back. 

“We were actually really offended because we didn’t understand the language, so we didn’t know why it was happening. But then when we started seeing, you know, military with machine guns and SWAT teams, we realized, oh, something pretty serious is going on,” said Clark, who is the theatre’s artistic director. 

Investigators say a broken window triggered the museum’s alarm. Police arrived two or three minutes after receiving a call, but those thieves were long gone – making their getaway on motorcycles. As the Maine tour group was ushered outside and onto their bus, the evacuation began to make sense. 

“And as we were coming out of the building and turning left, we saw the ladder that they had climbed up and into the building, used their chainsaws to break it open and then climbed back down that ladder,” Clark explained. 

Around 100 investigators are now involved in the search for the thieves and eight stolen treasures – a loss described as a wound to French culture. 

“To know that you were there when that happened, it was crazy. absolutely crazy. Something this tour group, I promise you, will never forget,” he added. 

The priceless crown jewels would still be worth millions if broken up and sold on the black market. French law prohibits institutions like the Louvre from insuring its property, except when part of a collection is moved or loaned.