Mountain climber strikes lucky - 10th January 2022

A mountain climber who found a box of precious stones on Mont Blanc, in the Alps, has been permitted to keep half of them by the French authorities.

The man, who has not been named, discovered the selection of different jewels in 2013. He handed them directly to the police, as French law requires. Then, he waited for several years to find out what would happen. French authorities have now decided to return half of the emeralds, sapphires and rubies to him.

It's thought that the precious stones belonged to a passenger from an Air India flight. Two of the airline's planes – one in 1950 and the other in 1966 – crashed into the side of Mont Blanc, with no survivors. It's likely that the jewels were on the second flight, which had been on its way from Mumbai to New York.

Over the years, many objects from the two crashes have been found on the mountainside. These include newspapers, a letter and luggage, which belonged to passengers.

The relevant authorities in France attempted to locate the family members of the owner of the precious stones. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful.

The climber has now been handed back half of the stones, which are worth €150,000. The mayor of the Alpine town of Chamonix thanked the man for his honesty.