Indian gems worth 205k pounds found beneath Mont Blanc glacier

A French mountaineer has found gems believed to belong to a passenger on one of two Air India planes that crashed in 1950 and 1966. The Mont Blanc gem find was made on the Bosson glacier, which has often spewed to the surface all sorts of remnants from the Air India crashes.

It was an unexpected find for the young French alpinist as he approached the summit of Mont Blanc. Poking out of the ice and snow on the shoulder of western Europe’s highest mountain was a metal box containing precious gems – including emeralds, rubies and sapphires – worth hundreds of thousands of euros that had lain hidden for about 50 years, the Guardian reported. The precious stones, around 100 in total, were neatly packed into sachets, some marked with “Made in India”.

It soon became clear that the historic haul, which has since been valued by jewellers at above 205,000 pounds had belonged to someone on one of two Air India flights that crashed in 1950 and 1966, killing a total of more than 100 people.