Diver Reunites Digital Camera with Owner One Year after it was Lost at Sea

A year after losing his camera when he accidentally dropped it in the ocean, a Canadian fire fighter has been reunited with his precious photographs thanks to the efforts of a wildlife photographer.

Photographer Markus Thompson was scuba diving in waters off Vancouver in British Columbia when he discovered the expensive rusting Canon EOS 1000D camera lodged in Deep Bay.

Once he was out of the water, Thompson was able to examine the camera's SD memory card and he was able to retrieve 50 photographs. He then posted them on Google+ to try and reunite them with their owner and asked users if anyone had accidentally dropped the digital camera.

Thompson wrote: "Approximately 50 pictures on the card from a family vacation.

"If you know a fire fighter from British Columbia whose team won the Pacific Regional Firefit competition, has a lovely wife and (now) two-year-old daughter – let me know. I would love to get them their vacation photos."

Images from the camera showed a regional fire fighting contest, and the options were narrowed down using social networking sites as faces were compared to those in other images.

The search soon went viral and Thompson received thousands of comments after he shared details about how he found the camera during a scuba diving excursion and how he carried out the extensive search online. He was eventually sent an email from a friend of the camera's owner which put an end to the mystery.

The Canadian fire fighter's friend, wrote: "Hello Mark. Thank you so much for the email. Yes I know exactly who the camera belongs to! He is a Delta Fire Fighter. I will have him contact you."

The camera costs up to $500 brand new but unfortunately this waterlogged device will no longer be capturing memories for its owner.

British Columbia has become a popular destination for scuba diving holidays after readers of Scuba Diving Magazine voted it as the Number 1 Diving Site in North America in 2010.

The waters are home to an array of beautiful marine creatures including the giant Pacific octopus, large sea stars, sea cucumbers, vibrant coral plants and forests of giant sponges.