Man reunited with prosthetic leg after boy finds it on treasure hunt

A man who lost his prosthetic leg while surfing in Florida has got it back after a boy found it during a treasure hunt.

Army veteran Carter Hess had been surfing at St Andrews Bay on Panama City Beach on 11 April when a wave knocked off his $3,000 (£2,457) titanium prosthetic limb, which was custom-made for surfing.

"I knew immediately it was off of me," Mr Hess told The Panama City News Herald. "I've surfed in much bigger waves and it never came off like that."

Mr Hess tried searching for two days but was unsuccessful, and weeks went by without any sightings of the leg.

Then, 13-year-old Sebastian Morris spotted the prosthetic while scuba diving the Panama City jetties as part of a treasure hunt with his father Bobby.

The pair set up a Facebook appeal to help reunite the leg with its owner, writing: "While scuba diving the Panama City Jetties Sebastian Morris found someone's prosthetic leg.

"We are searching for the owner in hopes to return it. Please contact us through this Facebook page."

Less than a week later, they managed to track down Mr Hess and return the prosthetic to him.

An update on the Facebook page said Mr Hess and Sebastian had met for dinner and got along brilliantly.

"Sebastian gladly reunited [Mr Hess] with his special leg and was very excited to find out that Carter lost it while surfing a couple weeks before he found it," the post read.

"I am so proud of Sebastian and I think he has made a new friend with Carter Hess.

"Carter was very generous by paying for dinner and gave Sebastian a reward for returning his leg."

Mr Hess also posted an update praising Sebastian and calling him an "outstanding young man".

"Legends come in all shapes and sizes but if he keeps calling me Cinderella we gonna have problems," he joked.

"On a more for real note, I'm so thankful for Sebastian and the huge effort he and his family put in to returning my surf leg to me this week."

Mr Hess had his leg amputated in 2012 after he was injured while serving in Afghanistan.

According to The Panama City News Herald, he plans to get back to surfing - and could even join Sebastian on a scuba mission.