Old Indian newspapers from the Air India plane crash in 1966 have been found in the Mont Blanc glacier.
The glacier in the French Alps has been gradually melting over the years. Since then, many buried items have been found. Several human remains were discovered in 2017 encased in ice, possibly as a result of crashes in the 50s and 60s in the French Alps.
The Mont Blanc glacier consists of the remnants of the Air India Boeing 707 crash. The tragedy took place on the morning of January 24th in 1966 killing all 177 passengers and crew on board the flight.
As reported by the AFP, copies of old Indian newspapers surfaced as the glacier began melting. The newspapers carry headlines from the time India elected its first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to office in 1966.
The recovered copies include well-known papers like The Economic Times and the National Herald. They are suspected to have been aboard the 1996 Air India flight that crashed in the Alpine glacier.
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Timothee Mottin, who found the stash of old newspapers runs a restaurant cum cafe called La Cabane du Cerro. It sits on an altitude of 1,350 meters (over 4,400 feet) near the popular Chamonix skiing hub in the Alps.
33-year-old Mottin said that the newspapers “are drying now but they are in very good condition” and that they can be read clearly, according to the AFP report.
The cafe owner called himself lucky to have found the newspapers since the ice was intact for almost 60 years and only began melting at an opportune time when he stumbled upon them.
He plans to display the newspapers in La Cabane de Cerro after they have completely dried to share with visitors. They will add to his collection of things found in the glacier crash, Mottin told AFP.
The most precious finds from the glacier were uncovered in 2013 when a mountaineer found a box of precious gems. The gems were Indian jewels worth €246,000 (around $400,861 AUD).
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