Ananova:

A museum curator in China was dismissed after gluing a broken antique back together instead of reporting the damage.

The accident was only discovered a year later when the Wuwei City Bureau of Culture and Media Publishing was selecting antiques for an upcoming western China antique exhibition.

The antique, a wooden turtle dove more than 2,000 years old and dating from China's Han Dynasty, had its peak broken when it was transported by museum staff to an antique storage cabinet a year ago, reports Xinhua News Network.

Yang Fu, the curator of Wu Wei City Museum, said he was instructed to exhibit the turtle dove to a group of visiting high-ranked officials, but later the day he was informed the visit was cancelled.

"During the process of transporting the turtle dove back, the bottom suddenly dropped out of the box containing the turtle dove and it dropped to the ground, breaking its peak," said Yang.

The two staff members in charge of transportation immediately reported the incident to Yang, and he went with them to the storeroom and glued the broken part back together with ordinary glue.

The Gansu Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage removed Yang from his position following a thorough investigation.