Hidden treasures salvaged from New Zealand quake

WELLINGTON—A Tiffany diamond bangle stuffed in a sock was among hundreds of items retrieved from Christchurch hotels abandoned during February’s earthquake and now returned to their owners, reports said Wednesday.

Other pieces of abandoned luggage included thousands of dollars in foreign banknotes hidden in a fake soft drink can and a rare Steiff teddy bear belonging to an Australian child.

Hotel guests had to flee for their lives during the 6.3 tremor which claimed 181 lives and leave their luggage in buildings which in some cases remained unsafe to enter for months, the New Zealand Herald reported.

New Zealand Hotel Council executive officer Rachael Shadbolt told the newspaper that more than 750 pieces of luggage had been painstakingly recovered in recent weeks and sent to owners in 37 countries.

She said an Australian woman had emailed to thank her after getting back her shoe collection.

“Perfect perfect perfect! I dreamt last night that my luggage arrived and today it’s here (a girl needs her shoes),” the email read.

Scott Wallace, from the Millennium hotel group, said cranes were used to reach the upper floors of some hotels as staff worked with earthquake recovery specialists to retrieve the luggage

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Wallace said that one of the more unusual items recovered was a NZ$10,000 ($8,300) diamond Tiffany bangle belonging to a guest who had been travelling with an exclusive tour group.

“They provided us with a list of everything that had been in the room and, a couple of weeks later, emailed again to say they had forgotten to mention the bracelet,” he told Fairfax Media.

“Sure enough, when we gained access to the room, we found it in its Tiffany box at the bottom of the suitcase, wrapped in a sock.”

Meanwhile, the Christchurch Press reported a guest trapped for four hours in the city’s Grand Chancellor hotel had received a NZ$300 bill for his stay, including $15.20 for the cable movie he was watching when the quake hit.

It said the man — who later escaped with his wife from the hotel’s 22nd floor after clambering down collapsed staircases and crawling on to the roof of an adjacent car park — described the bill as “a kick in the guts”.

The man, who did not want to be named, had the bill waived after the hotel received media inquiries about it, the newspaper said.