Video appears to show the alleged thieves running away

A video has emerged showing the alleged thieves behind the Louvre heist fleeing up an escalator in broad daylight.

Two people can be seen frantically looking around as they slowly descend, minutes after a famous Paris museum was broken into and €88 million ((£77 million) worth of French crown jewels were stolen.

The gang of four thieves has not been caught, and on Wednesday the head of the Louvre admitted that staff did not spot the robbers early enough because there was only one camera pointed at the gallery where the objects were on display.

In the video, the ladder-equipped truck is seen parked on a busy road running alongside the Seine as vehicles pass by.

Laurence de Carre told French lawmakers that the Louvre plans to double the number of CCTV cameras in and around the museum.

She admitted that the camera aimed at the gallery of Apollo, the room on the south side where the jewels are kept, was facing the wrong direction.

“There is a weakness in the Louvre, and I fully admit it,” said de Carse.

Paris city prosecutor Laure Bequo told the Ouest France newspaper that up to 150 DNA samples and fingerprints had been retrieved so far as part of the police investigation.

The heist happened less than eight minutes after the thieves arrived at 09:30 on Sunday morning (0630 GMT) after the Louvre opened its doors to the public.

They stole eight items, including an emerald necklace and earrings given as a wedding gift by Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife Marie-Louise

As they fled, they dropped a 19th-century diamond-encrusted crown belonging to the Empress Eugenie.

Although it was found, the crown was damaged and des Cars said it was likely crushed as the thieves took it out of the display case.