"They were scattered around a big cone at the Plateau des Pyramides, as if they had been placed the previous day," he told Le Parisien. "There were bracelets, necklaces, pendants, gold chains, earrings." Like the other unearthed gems, Mr Roche said he believed the jewels came from Air India flight Kangchenjunga - a Boeing 707 flying from Mumbai to London which crashed on the southwest face of Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966. Some 117 people died in the crash, including the pioneer of India's nuclear programme, Homi Jehangir Bhabha.