Diplomatic Mailbag Found in Alps ... 46 Years Later

A bag of Indian diplomatic mail bound for the US has been found 46 years after the plane transporting it crashed in the Alps, killing all 117 people on board. A mountain rescue worker found the bag and other debris from the doomed Air India plane after tourists reported seeing something shining in a glacier on Mont Blanc, reports the BBC. The Mumbai-New York flight crashed into the mountain in 1966 as it descended for a scheduled stop in Geneva.

"We found pieces of the cabin, a shoe, cables—it's a real dump up there!" says the rescue worker, who found the diplomatic bag "sitting as if someone had just placed it there" 20 yards beyond a plane wheel. "We were hoping for diamonds, or at least a few gold ingots. Instead, we got some soaking wet mail and Indian newspapers," he quipped. "It's not the sort of thing you find very often in the mountains—the mail's going to arrive 46 years late." The bag has been handed over to police, and Indian embassy officials say they're looking forward to receiving it, the Telegraph reports. (More Alps stories.)