Alpine climber finds 'India plane crash' jewels

The jewels were found on one of Mont Blanc's glaciers

A French mountain climber high in the Alps has stumbled across a box of precious jewels thought to be debris from a plane crash decades ago.

The hoard of sapphires, emeralds and rubies worth hundreds of thousands of dollars was found high on one of the glaciers on Mont Blanc.

The metal case marked "Made in India" is believed to have come from one of two Air India crashes in 1950 and 1966.

Police praised the honesty of the climber for handing the treasure in.

"He could have kept them but he chose to turn them in because he knew they belonged to someone who probably perished," local police officer Sylvain Merly said.

He added that the climber asked to stay anonymous.

Police now hope to find someone connected to the owner.

The authorities declined to elaborate on what would happen to the jewels if nobody claimed them.