The British Museum has reopened after a health scare forced the evacuation of thousands of people over the busy Bank Holiday weekend, but the cause of the alert is yet to be found.

Visitors had to be evacuated from one of the country's most popular museum attractions after it received complaints that people were suffering from sore throats and irritation to the eyes.

The closure took place at around 1pm on Saturday (28 August). Met police and the fire brigade were called in to deal with the incident; however, they were unable to find the real cause of the problem.

A Met police spokesperson said the museum evacuation was only a "precaution".

"A few people reported a funny smell on the premises and had mild irritation to the throat and eyes. No treatment from paramedics was necessary and we do not know at this stage the course of it. Officers are currently in the process of finding out what it is," the spokesperson explained.

According to reports, the evacuation was because of a "gas or chemical incident", but the exact nature of the incident may never be known.

The site was declared safe at 5pm on Saturday and open as usual over the Bank Holiday rush on Sunday and Monday.

Typically around 8,000 visitors walk through the doors of the British Museum every Saturday. It was founded in 1753 as the first national public museum in the world and since then visitor numbers have grown from around 5,000 a year to nearly six million today.

Related Articles:

Curators prepare for worldwide Twitter Q&A
Museums and galleries staff around the world are honing their Twitter skills in preparation for Ask a Curator Day on 1 September 2010.

PM: UK tourism must focus on heritage
David Cameron has said UK tourism must focus on its great heritage and be proud of its national assets, and forget the Cool Britannia image advocated by New Labour.