Chopard jewels worth $1 million stolen at Cannes

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Jewellery worth more than one million dollars made by Chopard and due to be loaned to stars walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival were stolen but the Palme d'Or trophy was safe, officials said on Friday.

Thieves broke into the room of an employee of the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer and jeweller which makes the Palme d'Or trophy, opened a safe and made off with the jewels, police said.

The robbery took place at around 5.00 am (0300 GMT) at the Novotel hotel in the centre of Cannes, they said. But an official linked to the festival said the trophy was safe.

Chopard is one of the official sponsors of the festival. The jeweller re-designs the Palme d'Or trophy and each year creates jewellery sets for the "mounting the steps" ritual.

Last year, thieves made off with four watches worth 400,000 euros ($513,000) belonging to football stars Souleymane Diawara and Mamadou Niang who were at Cannes for the festival.