Climber Who Found Box Of Gems From Plane Crash Gets Half Of It As Reward

A French climber received a hefty reward after he stumbled upon a stash of precious gems and handed it over to the authorities. The stash included emeralds, rubies, and sapphires and was buried in the snow for decades on Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe.

The climber, who wasn't publicly identified, reportedly found the gems in 2013. It is believed that the precious stones were lost at the location, and were left undisturbed for over 50 years, after an Air India flight crashed onto the mountain in 1966. The flight was traveling from Mumbai to New York at the time, 9 News reported.

The mountaineer was praised after he handed the box of gems over to the French government, which is a French law mandate, according to a report by the BBC.

Attempts to locate the original owner had proven futile and as a result, the gems were split into two equal parts, one of which went to the local authority in Chamonix while the other was handed over to the climber. Each half was reportedly valued at about $242,500, or €150,000.

Chamonix Mayor Eric Fournie praised the climber for his "integrity" after he turned his finding into the authorities.

Two flights by Air India, India's national carrier, crashed into the mountains successively in 1950 and in 1966. Climbers have found debris, baggage and human remains from the aircraft over the course of the past few decades, AFP reported.

The 1966 tragedy had 117 people on board; all 106 passengers and 11 crew members were killed in the crash. Officials believe the stones likely had been in the 1966 flight which had at least six British passengers on board and the physicist known as the "father" of India's nuclear program, Homi J. Bhabha.

In 2012, a bag consisting of Indian diplomatic mails was found in the French Alps, close to where the same Air India plane had crashed 55 years ago. The jute bag contained newspapers, calendars and a personal letter and was recovered by a mountain rescue worker after some tourists spotted the wreckage and called it in.