WOULD YOU CLIMB MONT BLANC FOR £200,000?

English: Mont-Blanc bridge and flags, Geneva. Français : Pont du Mont-Blanc et drapeaux, Genève. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Long lost rubies, sapphires and emeralds have been found in a metal box under ice, 10,000 feet up Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak. A 20-year-old French climber discovered the Indian gems in a small chest and handed it in to police. What an idiot! The treasure trove of precious stones, worth an estimated £200,000, is thought to have been lost by a passenger on one of two flights from India that crashed on the mountain in 1950 and 1966.

The jewels most likely originated from an Air India flight from Bombay to New York that crashed in fog and windy conditions on 24 January 1966.  All 117 passengers and crew were killed when the Boeing 707 437 collided with the mountain at 12,000 feet. According to local legend this plane carried bag-loads of Indian gemstones in its belly. However 15 years earlier another Indian  plane, named Malabar Princess, flying from Bombay to New York, via Geneva and London, crashed in a nearby spot on the mountain. The Costellation flight went down during a snowstorm in November 1950, killing 48 people on board including 40 Indian navy sailors returning to their ship.

Police have confirmed that the jewels are Indian and are hunting the rightful owner. If no heirs are found the young climber will be entitled to half  the treasure with the French state keeping the rest. I don’t know about you, but I’m off to buy myself some thermal underwear, climbing rope and a pair of crampons! See you on the peak! Oh, anything I find, I’ll keep. F**k the French authorities! The smell of buried treasure is already making me hard! I wonder what the toilet facilities are like on Mont Blanc?