00:00A major manhunt is underway around the southern French Mediterranean resort of Kanye-sur-Mer
00:05after thieves broke into the Renoir Museum and stole four artworks but abandoned two during their escape.
00:12The town's mayor, Brian Masson, said that a group of well-equipped and well-informed thieves
00:16entered the building via the garden to pull off the robbery.
00:19Officials say they sliced through the fence with an electric knife or saw,
00:23entered the museum through the ground floor,
00:25and then cut the clips securing the artwork frames to their housing before escaping.
00:30According to Masson, the pair were spotted thanks to the town's video surveillance cameras.
00:35Initial reports estimate the stolen haul to be worth up to 9 million euros.
00:40Museum staff say two of the stolen artworks were found in the garden where the thieves were escaping from,
00:45but two other portraits are missing.
00:48The heist happened shortly before 6 a.m. local time,
00:51and police responded to the scene within five minutes.
00:54The Renoir Museum was the final home to the great French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir
00:59prior to his 1919 death.
01:01It's located between Ken and Nice,
01:03and is the Mediterranean coastal town's most famous attraction.
01:07So the two of them are the second home to the built-in,
