Ammon News - Some social media users are convinced that a planned parade of 22 mummies through Cairo has awakened an ancient curse, causing train crashes, building collapses and the stranding of the Ever Given.

From the Ever Given mishap, where a giant cargo ship became wedged in the Suez Canal causing global chaos, to a tragic train wreck that has claimed over 30 lives, a series of strange incidents and accidents has taken place in Egypt over the past few weeks.

And so many people have blamed the chain of coincidences on the legendary Curse of the Pharaohs that renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass has been forced to step in to deny the rumours.

On April 3, the Pharaohs Golden Parade will see 22 mummies, including those of King Ramses II, King Seknen Ra, and King Tuthmosis III King Seti the First, Queen Hatshepsut and Queen Merit Amun, from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.

But many believe that plans for the 40-minute event in the Egyptian capital have already awakened the ancient curse.

Facebook users in Egypt, in particular, have shared the dire warning found on tomb seals: "Death will come on quick wings for those who disturb the king's peace.”

As well as the stranding of the Ever Given and the deadly collision of two trains in Sohag, Egypt has also seen the collapse of a 10-storey building in Cairo, a fire in the Zagazig station tunnel, the collapse of the scaffolding of a concrete column from a bridge under construction in Mariotya, a major house fire in Samalout in Minya and a fire in the Maadi Tower.

Egyptians have been sharing warnings of further disasters, some jokey, some deadly serious.

One wrote “Final Destination 2021: Curse of the Pharaoh,” while another said “Three major accidents in less than a week. The Curse of the Pariahs or the Mummy’s Curse is a curse alleged to be cast o anyone who disturbs the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian – especially a Pharaoh.”

But Hawass insists that there is no such thing as a "curse of the pharaohs”.

Speaking to Al-Arabiya television, Egypt’s flamboyant former Antiquities Minister said there was nothing supernatural about the country’s wealth of ancient relics.

He went on to theorise that that the unexplained deaths of archaeologists who had excavated tombs in the past had been caused by ancient pathogens that had been walled up in the tombs.

Another well-known Egyptian personality has denied the rumours of an ancient curse – and he claims that the long-dead pharaohs had told him personally that they weren’t upset about the parade.

IT specialist and self-styled mystic Sameh Abou Arayes wrote on Facebook: "I contacted the spirits of the kings of ancient Egypt, whose mummies will be transported in the royal procession in a few days, and I asked them if the accidents that are currently occurring in Egypt are due to their curse and anger because of their transfer.

Arayes, who claims he is the prophet of falcon-headed got Horus, added ”They assured me that this is not true and that they did not send a curse and that they, as kings of Egypt and prophets of the god Horus, love the Egyptian people and cannot harm them”.

So that’s that settled.

*Dailystar