Air India planes crashed into Mont Blanc in 1950 and 1966.
Climbers have found debris, baggage and human remains from the two aircraft over the years.
A Mont Blanc mountaineer has been awarded his share of reward for finding jewels eight years ago. He found gems from the debris of two Air India planes that crashed on the southwest face of Mont Blanc.
The precious stones are thought to have come from the 1966 flight that was en route from Mumbai to New York. The south-west face of Mont Blanc was the site of a Boeing 707 crash in 1966.
There were two crashes in 16 years.
On November 3, 1950, the first crash took place on the southwest face of the Mont Blanc at an altitude of around 4,700 meters. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in Western Europe. Fifty-eight people died in the crash.
The plane that was operating the flight was registered VT-CQP and was named the Malabar Princess. It was piloted by Captain Alan R. Saint. 40 passengers and 8 crew were on board. The flight crashed into the French Alps as it descended towards the airport.
The photo is from Wikimedia.
On January 24, 1966 an Air India Boeing 707-437 plane crashed into Mont Blanc at an altitude of around 4,750 meters. VT-DMN is a plane registered by Boeing. The aircraft was named after the third highest mountain in the world.
Air India flight 101 was operating from Mumbai to New York over multiple stages when it crashed on its way toGeneva from Lebanon after a verbal flight control miscommunication. The Father of India's nuclear program was one of the casualties. He was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Climber found a gem stone.
A mountain climber ascending Mont Blanc found a box containing over $300,000 worth of stones.
A bag marked "Made in India" was found on the ice by a mountaineer. He was hiking in the des Bossons glacier when he found the gems that had been buried there for 55 years.
The bags were marked with the initials of one of the casualties on the flight. The police tried to return the treasure to the rightful owner.
There is treasure shared among two parties.
After no rightful owners were found, the treasure was divided between the mountaineer and the Chamonix commune, each getting about $169,000. The mountaineer got his share of the jewels in December of 2021.
He claimed that he doesn't regret having been honest after finding the jewels. The mountaineer wanted to remain anonymous.
The Mayor of Chamonix, Eric Fournier, said that the "stones have been shared this week" in two parts. He thanked the mountaineer for his integrity.
I am very happy with the conclusion of this.
Over the years, climbers and researchers have found the remains of the Air India flights. The crash site of a 1966 Indian newspaper with a story about Indian Gandhi becoming the prime minister of India was found last year. The Prime Minister of India honoured the casualties from crashes.
Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in western Europe and straddles the border between France and Italy.
The cover image is from the encyclopedia/ Ralf Manteufel.
