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look what was buried in the alps

Creased but readable newspapers with headlines like ‘Exchange of captured air crew today’ [between India and Pakistan] and government calenders are the contents of a jute ‘diplomatic bag’ found buried for 46-years in Mont Blanc in the French Alps.

The jute bag was recovered by a mountain rescue worker on 21 August on Mont Blanc close to where an Air India plane flying from Mumbai to New York had crashed in January 1966 killing all 117 on board, including top Indian nuclear scientist Homi J Bhabha. Contents were finally revealed  on Tuesday.

Tucked inside the ‘Type C’ diplomatic bags were the papers of Hindustan Times and The Statesman dated 22 January and 17 January.

Along it were calenders of 1966 and a personal letter of the then Indian Consulate General posted in New York.

Official sources said that way back then, Indian diplomatic pouches came in three types: A, B and C.

Bags designated ‘A’ contained top-secret information and were carried by officials as cabin luggage while Type ‘B’ bags contained official communication.

Type ‘C’ bags, sources said usually contained personal letters for officials abroad, and other kinds of non-confidential matter.
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