As Serena was taking photos of the marine life, she noticed that one of her friends was struggling. His diving tank was nearly empty and he needed to make it back to the surface as soon as possible.
Although everyone made it back safely, Serena realized that her camera was missing. She must've dropped it while helping her friend and all those incredible photos were now gone.
She Couldn't Find It
Serena tried searching for her camera, but the strong waves made it nearly impossible for her to see anything. Eventually, she just moved on and purchased a new one.
Little did she know what was going to happen in the spring of 2018 as a result of her carelessness.
Two Years Later
At the beginning of 2018, more and more trash began to pile up on Taiwanese beaches.
People started to voluntarily clean the beaches, and even some schools got involved in the project. One school began organizing beach cleanups to help the local community, and what one student discovered in the sand shocked the world.
They Found A Strange Rock
In March 2018, a few 11-year olds were cleaning one of the beaches when they discovered a strange rock.
One student picked up the strange rock and brought it to his teacher. After taking a closer look, the teacher realized that it wasn't a rock!
It Was Something Else
Both the teacher and the boy came to a realization that it wasn't a rock after all. The strange item had faint writing on it and it was covered in glass.
Then, they finally realized what they were looking at.
It Wasn't An Ordinary Camera
They were looking at a camera. They figured someone must've dropped it in the ocean a few years ago. The teacher decided to put this item aside and continue with the clean-up.
It was only a few hours later did he realize that it wasn't an ordinary camera...
It Was Serena's
The camera that they had found belonged to Serena, but they weren't aware of it just yet.
But would the camera still work?
They Opened The Case
The teacher later told the media that he “thought it was broken but then by chance, knocked off a barnacle on the casing and found a button to open the case.”
And what they discovered inside left them at a loss for words.
They Waited With Anticipation
Park Lee and the students were all looking at the camera, wondering who its owner was.
They had no idea how to search for the owner, and the only way to find out was to look at some photos. So, they pressed the power button and waited...
It Was Still Working
Fortunately, the camera's case prevented the water from leaking inside and they were able to see some photos.
Lee explained, "Even more amazingly, the boy turned the power on and the camera was still charged!" The camera lived!"
He Was Facing A Dilemma
Lee was now facing a dilemma. He knew it wasn't okay to go through someone's photos, but he didn't have another choice.
He wanted to return the camera to its rightful owner. However, some children didn't agree with his decision.
Decisions, Decisions...
"Some children thought we had earned the camera and could keep it for ourselves. Others suggested we should try to find the owner - and so we all sat down to think about how to do that," he said.
After some time, they all agreed that they should look at the photos inside the camera. This was the first photo they saw.
He Wrote A Facebook Post In Japanese
He saw the last photo taken in 2016, just before Serena left her camera behind in the ocean. He knew that Serena was a Japanese woman, so he tried his best to write a Facebook post in Japanese.
His post was shared more than 12,000 and it wasn't long before Serena received a strange message from one of her friends.
She Got Her Camera Back
In just 12 hours, Serena managed to get in touch with Park Lee and got her camera back.
"I am so lucky and happy to have this miracle opportunity to feel kindness of people in my life," she said. "Those pictures remind me of old memories and brought me back to those."
She Visisted Them
She visited the kids who had found her camera last April and promised to visit them on their graduation day.
During her visit, Serena spent a lot of time with the kids and gave them cards written in Chinese, in which she thanked them for doing a good deed.