Diver Finds Tourist's Lost Camera — And the Pics Are Still Good

Jo Piazza
·Managing Editor
Updated
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Emily Demello (right) lost her camera on vacation. The man who found it tracked her down on Facebook and returned all of her photos. (Photo: Emily Demello/Daily Mail)

Emily Demello, a student from Vancouver, lost her waterproof camera off the coast of Cuba while on vacation in 2012. She just assumed it was gone forever.

But miracles do happen. Two years later, a scuba diver returned her vacation photos, completely intact.

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"My dad originally bought me this shockproof, waterproof camera because I’m extremely clumsy. I was taking photos with my friends in the ocean maybe three days into the trip and I got hit by a big wave which knocked the camera out of my hand," Demello told the MailOnline Travel. We looked for the camera for about 20 minutes, walking around the area in the water and walking along the beach. As soon as it was gone the current must have taken it away, though.”

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Demello thought her vacation photos were lost forever. (Photo: Emily Demello/Daily Mail)

Enter scuba diver Ruben Urquiza. Urquiza found the camera a year ago (about a year after it was first lost) while diving off the coast. The actual camera was pretty beaten up, but the memory card looked like it might still be good. It took Urquiza a year to get access to the Internet in order to upload the photos. When he did, he contacted Emily straight away through Facebook.

According to the Daily Mail, he wrote in his message:

"Hi Emily, I am from Cuba, my name is Ruben. I know that you was in my country in 2012 because I am diver in Varadero and I found your camera in the beach, please accept me in your Facebook friends and I will send you your pictures! I am sorry my bad English, have a nice Sunday!"

At first she thought it was a prank, but something told her to write back to him.

Sure enough, he returned two-year old precious memories.

"There are people like Ruben, doing great things everywhere," Demello told the Daily Mail. "It means a lot that he took the time to find me and send my pictures back to me. Nothing stays lost forever."

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