A BARNACLE-encrusted camera that survived a 9600km, five-year journey bobbing around at sea has been found in Taiwan.

A Taiwanese airline said Monday it had traced the American owner of the Canon diving camera, which was lost in Hawaii in 2007 and was found last month on a Taiwan beach. Flag carrier China Airlines said the owner of the Canon camera, identified as Lindsay Crumbley Scallan from Georgia, would be offered a free round-trip ticket to Taiwan to collect it. The memory card with photos of Scallan's Hawaii visit remained intact inside the camera. "Ms Scallan is welcome to visit Taiwan so that she can take home the invaluable memories of her trip to Hawaii," said Lee Wen-yi, an official of the airline. Scallan lost the waterproof camera in August 2007 during a diving trip in Maui. It was found by Douglas Cheng, a China Airlines manager, while he was strolling along a beach at Taitung on Taiwan's east coast on February 13. The memory card allowed Cheng to identify where the camera had been lost. China Airlines' staff in Honolulu launched a search for the owner, attracting media attention. The airline said a friend of Scallan's in Hawaii informed her Monday that the camera had been found on the other side of the Pacific.