The French climber was allowed to keep half of the gems found at the site of the 2013 Air India crash at Mont Blanc
Two Air India planes crashed into Mont Blanc in 1950 and 1966. (Representative)
Grenoble:
A treasure trove of emeralds, rubies and sapphires buried for decades on a glacier off France’s Mont Blanc has finally been shared between the climber who discovered them and local authorities, eight years after they were found.
Climbers stumbled upon the gems in 2013. They were hidden in a metal box on an Indian plane that crashed in the desert about 50 years earlier.
“The stones were split this week” into two equal lots worth about 150,000 euros ($169,000) each, Chamonix Mayor Eric Fournier told AFP.
He said he was “delighted” that the facts had been concluded, especially for the climber whom he praised for his “integrity” in turning over to police as required by law. .
Two Air India planes crashed into Mont Blanc in 1950 and 1966.
Over the years, climbers have regularly found debris, luggage and human remains from planes.
In September 2012, India obtained a bag of diplomatic mail from Kangchenjunga, a Boeing 707 flying from Mumbai that crashed on the southwest side of Mont Blanc on 24 January 1966.
The accident killed 117 people, including the pioneer of India’s nuclear program, Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
Authorities believe the gems likely came from that flight en route from Mumbai to New York.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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