New Delhi: A treasure of emeralds, rubies, and sapphires that had been buried in a glacier off Mont Blanc for decades has been shared between the French climber who found them eight years ago and local authorities, reported AFP.
The mountaineer had stumbled upon the gems in 2013. The precious stones were found hidden in a metal box that was on board an Air India flight that crashed around 50 years ago.
Chamonix Mayor Eric Fournier said, “The stones have been shared this week" in two equal lots valued at around 150,000 euros ($169,000) each.”
Eric said that he was “very happy” that the event was brought to a closure, especially for the climber who he applauded for his “integrity in turning his find in to police as required by law.”
Two planes of Air India had crashed into Mont Blanc in1950 and 1966.
Since that time, over the years, climbers often found debris, baggage, and human remains from their aircraft during their expeditions.
India had taken possession of a bag of diplomatic mail from the Kangchenjunga, a Boeing 707 aircraft flying from Mumbai that crashed on the southwest face of Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966. The possession was taken in September 2012.
The plane crash had killed 117 people on board which included pioneer of India’s nuclear programme, Homi Jehangir Bhabha. Authorities believe that the precious stones had likely come from that flight that had been en route from Mumbai to New York.
The melting glacier had also surfaced some newspapers from the crash site, some of which carried the headline “India’s First Woman Prime Minister” referring to the election win of Indira Gandhi in 1966.