Dubai Police divers made a timely intervention and reunited a British tourist with a Dh250,000 ($68,000) Rolex watch lost on a yacht trip near The Palm Jumeirah.
Five officers from the Dubai Police Maritime Rescue were called into action at about 5.30pm on Wednesday, after the owner dropped the aptly-named Rolex Yacht Master while swimming with friends.
The force said divers soon afterwards recovered the luxury timepiece at a depth of 11.5m, despite facing challenges of deep waters, low visibility and varying currents.
“The watch was for a British national and it was found 38 feet deep in the water,” Dubai Police told The National.
Police said the owner was overjoyed with the efforts of the unit, and expressed his gratitude to them for recovering the precious watch.
Hamid Al Ameri, 33, who was with the tourist on the trip, posted a video on his Instagram page thanking Dubai Police for coming to the rescue.
“My friend lost his Rolex watch in the ocean during a yacht cruise. It is worth Dh250,000,” said Mr Al Ameri in the post.
"We called Dubai Police, and they retrieved it within 30 mins. Thank you, Dubai Police.”
Mr Al Ameri said his friend lost the watch when he jumped into the water.
“When he dove in, the watch's strap snapped. We tried to search for the watch but it was difficult to find it as it was low visibility in that area,” Mr Al Ameri told The National.
“We were sad and desperate to find the expensive watch, but I decided to call Dubai Police for help. They arrived within ten minutes and the divers found the watch after searching for 30 minutes under the water.”
Mr Al Ameri said he thought it would be impossible to find such a small object in the sea.
“We were thrilled when the divers came up carrying the watch. My friend was happy to recover his watch after he lost hope of finding it," he said.
Dubai Police said the underwater rescue mission was all in the line of duty.
“Our aim is to help people and make them happy. We work around the clock to assist the people and respond quickly to help them,” they said.
It is not the first time Dubai Police have recently recovered valuables seemingly lost in deep water.
On May 29, the force's divers found an iPhone 14 Pro belonging to a Russian tourist who had lost it at Hatta Dam.
The tourist called the Dubai Police command centre for help, saying he had important files and contact numbers in his phone.
Despite the phone being submerged in 20m of water, divers managed to find the device and return it to its owner.
“Our duties are saving lives of people in the sea, but we have the ability to provide any services to the public and make them happy,” Dubai Police said.
