A digital camera, believed to be lost forever, has resurfaced after spending 13 years submerged in a river in Colorado.
Coral Amayi experienced the unfortunate incident in 2010 when she lost the camera while tubing along the Animas River, shortly after her best friend’s wedding.
Recalling the incident, she said, “I was thrown off my tube at Smelter Rapid. When I resurfaced and retrieved my tube, I discovered that my camera was missing.”
Amayi felt devastated as she knew that many precious photos stored on the camera had not been backed up to her computer.
“I vividly remember returning to my boyfriend’s house, overcome with uncontrollable tears and distress,” she shared.
In 2023, after a span of 13 years, Coral Amayi’s point-and-shoot digital camera resurfaced from the muddy depths of the Animas River, thanks to a stranger named Spencer Greiner who discovered it while fishing.
Driven by curiosity, Greiner couldn’t resist the temptation and used a screwdriver to carefully open the door of the Olympus camera, exposing the memory card inside. Despite water flowing out from the camera, Greiner was astonished when, against all odds, he successfully recovered Amayi’s photos from the corroded SD card.
On March 16, Spencer Greiner shared the rediscovered 13-year-old photos on a local Facebook group dedicated to Durango, Colorado. In his post, he inquired, “Were you married on June 12th, 2010 in the Durango area? Did you have an unattractive brown stretch station wagon at your bachelorette party? Can you identify any of these individuals? If so, please reach out to me.”
Remarkably, within just one hour, the bride and groom, James and Holly Estelle, recognized themselves in the pictures. They promptly contacted Coral Amayi, who currently resides in Cochise, Arizona. A week later, Amayi was joyfully reunited with her cherished photos, long thought to be lost forever.
