A bag containing €2,000 in cash and a new iPad was lost on a Gozo Channel ferry but returned to its owner untouched shortly after.

"There are still good people out there! There is hope!," Ina Pavlova said as she recounted her story.

She said she had been on the ferry on her way back to Malta yesterday when she forgot her handbag in the cafeteria. She realised it was missing when she was already in Madliena.

"You can't imagine the horror I and my partner experienced. Apart from important documents, I had in it a brand new IPad and more than 2k in cash. The drive back while trying to get through to the ferry company on the phone was something I don't wish anybody else to experience ever.

"But once we got to Cirkewwa, we found an official who managed to get through to the ship via the radio station. They confirmed that they found a bag.

"After waiting for half an hour for the ferry to come back from Gozo, not knowing if we were going to find the bag empty, we ran on to the deck. And there was this middle age Maltese guy, a member of the crew, with the biggest smile ever, who handed me the bag. He was the guy who found it.

"Everything was inside, untouched. He didn't even want to take the reward we offered him. He said he doesn't deserve it and ran away downstairs.

"This was the moment when I broke down and started crying.

We couldn't even get his name. God bless him!"