French mountain climber finds precious gems

Mountain climber finds jewels - 10th January 2022

The French government has given a mountain climber some valuable jewels.

The man, who is unnamed, discovered the stones in 2013 when he was climbing Mont Blanc, in the Alps. The jewels, such as red rubies and green emeralds, were in a metal box which lay under the snow for years.

He took them to a local police station at the time and waited for many years. Now, the French authorities say he can keep half of the stones.

The stones had come from a plane crash. There was an Air India crash in 1950 and another one in 1966, when many passengers were killed. The stones probably came from the later accident, when the plane was travelling from Mumbai to New York.

The French authorities tried to find out more details about the passenger's family but they were unlucky. So now, eight years after the find, the climber has been told he can keep half the stones. They are valued at about €150,000. The other half will be kept by the French authorities.