Sunlit uplands for hiker who stumbled upon box of lost gems

A FRENCH hiker who discovered a box filled with thousands of emeralds and sapphires on Mont Blanc – probably from a fatal plane crash involving an Indian airliner in 1966 – has been awarded half the bounty, valued at €150,000 (£128,000).

The young hiker from the Savoy region stumbled upon the treasure eight years ago while trekking the Bossons Glacier on Mont Blanc.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, turned the small metal box and the precious gems over to police.

Under French law, if the owner of the treasure cannot be found and its contents are unclaimed for a certain amount of time, the loot is shared equally between the person who discovered it, and the owner of the property where it was found.

In this case, the other half of the treasure goes to the town of Chamonix. In total, the box contained more than 6,000 precious stones valued at €300,000. Experts believe the gems are a relic of a Bombay-new York Air India plane crash that killed all 117 passengers aboard the Boeing 707.

The region was notorious for aviation accidents and regularly yields relics of the past, be it newspapers, plane parts, or human remains. When the hiker, then in his 20s, first recovered the box he thought it was worthless as the gems were wrapped in dozens of paper sachets which he mistook for plasters.

But each sachet had been meticulously labelled and classified, French media reported. Experts believe the owner was an Indian merchant who specialised in precious gems.

News of the discovery attracted several letters from people claiming to be owners of the jewels throughout the years, but all were false leads.

“We’re very happy,” Mayor Éric Fournier told France 2, at the Crystal Museum in Chamonix, where the gems will be on display later this month.

“All visitors to the museum will be able to admire the gesture he has made.”