TEHRAN, Apr. 24 (MNA) – The head of Tehran council’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Committee said on Monday that a mummified body had been found at the site of a former shah's tomb, during construction work at Shah-Abdol-Azim shrine.

Hassan Khalilabadi told state-run IRNA news agency that the mummy found is probably of Reza Shah, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. 

Since it remains unclear who the body belongs to, he stressed that some believe that the body belongs to the first Pahlavi King, Reza Shah, who has been mummified and brought to Tehran and buried in Shah-Abdol-Azim shrine. Since the found body, to whom it belongs, is mummified, enjoys a historic and heritage value and must be preserved.

He added that the heritage and medical experts must identify who the body belongs to; we need a DNA sample of a family member to match the profile of the mummy.

During the destruction of Reza Shah's mausoleum in April 1980, his corpse was not found and at that time some suggested that Mohammad Reza Pahlavi has taken his father’s remains to Cairo of Egypt while escaping the country.

LR