A young French alpinist recently stumbled across a treasure chest as he was approaching the summit of the famous Mont Blanc mountain, Europe's highest peak, in the French Alps. He noticed a metal box marked “Made in India” poking out of the ice and once open, he discovered real treasure – around 100 precious gems including emeralds, rubies and sapphires carefully packed ! Sounds like a film script doesn’t it? The story gets even more intriguing once you know how the stones ended up on the slopes of the Mont Blanc…
It soon became obvious that the precious stones, packed into sachets in a small metal box marked "Made in India" must have been part of the debris remaining from an air crash – but which one! The plot thickens as there were actually two Air India flights that crashed in the area around the Mont Blanc peak. The first air crash was in 1950 when a 4 motor propeller airplane crashed into the mountainside killing 48 passengers and crew on its way to Geneva airport. Sixteen years later, in January 1966, another Air India flight on its way from Bombay to New York, and scheduled to refuel at Geneva, crashed in bad weather conditions in the same area. Sadly, all 117 passengers and crew were killed when the plane collided with the side of the mountain.
The metal box and its contents must have belonged to a passenger on one of the Air India flights but there is much discussion about which one… The first Indian plane, named the Malabar Princess, crashed in 1950 and was officially carrying 40 Indian navy sailors returning to their ship and it, therefore, seems unlikely that this precious cargo belonged to one of the passengers on this flight. It is believed that the precious stones are more likely to have belonged to someone on the second plane which crashed in 1966. This Air India plane was flying from Bombay to New York and a number of wealthy Indians, including Homi Jehangir Bhabha, were on the passenger list. However, because of the first plane’s name, 'Malabar Princess', a rumour started that the 1950 flight had been carrying a Maharani and her family’s treasure along with the 40 Indian Navy sailors!
Being fully aware of the details of both air crashes, the young climber decided that honesty was the best policy and took the box straight to the local police station. The Police Commander Sylvain Merly said that there is often debris from the air crashes, including letters, shoes, cables and fragments of the planes themselves that surfaces and is discovered by mountain climbers. Last year, 2 climbers discovered a bag containing Indian diplomatic mail marked "Ministry of External Affairs" that had been on the second flight in in 1966. Authorities are hoping to trace the relatives of the owner of the precious stones but the local French paper, the Dauphiné Libéré stated that under French law, if an official owner cannot be proved, then the jewels worth around £200,000 could be given back to the climber who found them.
After some research and it turns out that a film called Malabar Princess was made in 2004 by French film director Gilles Legrand! The film tells the story of a young boy, Tom, who goes to live with his maternal grandfather in the French Alps after his mother disappeared. While searching for his mother he comes across the remains of a plane that had crashed during the 1950s… Maybe the story about the precious stones will be the sequel to this film!
Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the great photos.
A young French alpinist recently stumbled across a treasure chest as he was approaching the summit of the famous Mont Blanc mountain, Europe's highest peak, in the French Alps. He noticed a metal box marked “Made in India” poking out of the ice and once open, he discovered real treasure – around 100 precious gems including emeralds, rubies and sapphires carefully packed ! Sounds like a film script doesn’t it? The story gets even more intriguing once you know how the stones ended up on the slopes of the Mont Blanc…
It soon became obvious that the precious stones, packed into sachets in a small metal box marked "Made in India" must have been part of the debris remaining from an air crash – but which one! The plot thickens as there were actually two Air India flights that crashed in the area around the Mont Blanc peak. The first air crash was in 1950 when a 4 motor propeller airplane crashed into the mountainside killing 48 passengers and crew on its way to Geneva airport. Sixteen years later, in January 1966, another Air India flight on its way from Bombay to New York, and scheduled to refuel at Geneva, crashed in bad weather conditions in the same area. Sadly, all 117 passengers and crew were killed when the plane collided with the side of the mountain.
The metal box and its contents must have belonged to a passenger on one of the Air India flights but there is much discussion about which one… The first Indian plane, named the Malabar Princess, crashed in 1950 and was officially carrying 40 Indian navy sailors returning to their ship and it, therefore, seems unlikely that this precious cargo belonged to one of the passengers on this flight. It is believed that the precious stones are more likely to have belonged to someone on the second plane which crashed in 1966. This Air India plane was flying from Bombay to New York and a number of wealthy Indians, including Homi Jehangir Bhabha, were on the passenger list. However, because of the first plane’s name, 'Malabar Princess', a rumour started that the 1950 flight had been carrying a Maharani and her family’s treasure along with the 40 Indian Navy sailors!
Being fully aware of the details of both air crashes, the young climber decided that honesty was the best policy and took the box straight to the local police station. The Police Commander Sylvain Merly said that there is often debris from the air crashes, including letters, shoes, cables and fragments of the planes themselves that surfaces and is discovered by mountain climbers. Last year, 2 climbers discovered a bag containing Indian diplomatic mail marked "Ministry of External Affairs" that had been on the second flight in in 1966. Authorities are hoping to trace the relatives of the owner of the precious stones but the local French paper, the Dauphiné Libéré stated that under French law, if an official owner cannot be proved, then the jewels worth around £200,000 could be given back to the climber who found them.
After some research and it turns out that a film called Malabar Princess was made in 2004 by French film director Gilles Legrand! The film tells the story of a young boy, Tom, who goes to live with his maternal grandfather in the French Alps after his mother disappeared. While searching for his mother he comes across the remains of a plane that had crashed during the 1950s… Maybe the story about the precious stones will be the sequel to this film!
Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the great photos.
Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!
