French mountain climber finds precious gems

Mountain climber strikes lucky - 10th January 2022

A mountaineer who came across a box of buried treasure on the snow-covered slopes of Mont Blanc, around a decade ago, has now been given half of the jewels.

The unnamed climber made the discovery of the valuable gems in 2013. It's believed that the box, containing sapphires, emeralds and rubies, belonged to someone on board an Indian plane that had crashed half a century earlier.

The mountaineer was congratulated after handing the box in to police, as required by French law. However, after an unsuccessful attempt to track down the family of the owner in India, the climber has now been rewarded with half of the collection of hundreds of precious stones. The local authority in Chamonix, close to where they were found, has been gifted the other half.

Two Air India planes have crashed into the slopes of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps. The first accident happened in 1950, in which all 48 passengers and crew lost their lives. Then, in 1966 a second flight operated by India's national carrier hit the mountain, with 117 on board.

Officials believe the gemstones are likely to have come from the 1966 flight, which was heading to New York from Mumbai when it crashed. Human remains have since been found on the mountain, as well as luggage belonging to passengers.

In 2012, a bag carrying diplomatic mail from India was discovered, containing newspapers, calendars and a personal letter from 1966. The physicist known as the "father of India's nuclear programme", Homi J Bhabha, was among those killed in the crash.

Chamonix mayor, Eric Fournier, disclosed that the two equal lots of gems have been valued at around €150,000 each. He praised the climber for turning his find in to police.