Mankombu: A tourist’s gold chain that slipped into the Manimala river during a houseboat journey was retrieved by a local resident of Mankombu. It was Jineesh Chacko (45) of Theramassery House, who dove into the river and recovered the chain after repeated search efforts by others had failed.

The incident involved a group of tourists from Tamil Nadu who had arrived in Kuttanad on a houseboat trip. The costly gold chain, studded with pearls, was lost in a deep stretch of the boat channel near the Nedumudi Nazareth Boat Jetty.

Despite several attempts by locals to trace the chain, it remained missing and with no hopes of retrieving it, the tourist group soon returned to Tamil Nadu. Jineesh, who works as a crew member on another houseboat, later learned about the incident and volunteered to attempt the recovery. Diving at the spot indicated by the tourists, he successfully retrieved the chain.

The owner subsequently returned from Tamil Nadu to collect the chain and rewarded Jineesh before leaving. Jineesh has earlier recovered several valuable items lost in deep water bodies and returned them to their owners.