A Gozo Channel crewman who found and returned a woman's handbag with €2,000 said the woman's smile was enough of a reward for him.

Ina Pavlova forgot her bag on the ferry two days ago but the crewman found it and returned it to her untouched (See story  http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140821/local/missing-bag-with-2000-returned-to-owner.532569 )

Ina Pavlova

The employee would not accept a money token Ms Pavlova offered to show her gratitude and ran off shyly.

“I really wanted to run after him. He made me so happy and his act of kindness made me cry with joy. I feel very lucky. With all the robberies we are hearing about, this incident uplifted my spirits,” she said.

It was only yesterday that she got to know the name of the crewman.

Carmel Buttigieg, who was contacted yesterday, was lost for words.

The 56-year-old seaman has been working on the ferry for about 30 years and it was not the first time he found lost things which he took to the police station when they remained unclaimed.

He said Ms Pavlova’s smile and reaction when he returned the bag was “enough”.

One of Mr Buttigieg’s three daughters, Silvianne, 26, said she was “impressed” at the positive feedback from the story on the internet yesterday. “Returning objects to the owner is the obvious thing to do. That is how we were brought up,” she told this newspaper.

Ms Pavlova wants to reward Mr Buttigieg’s act of kindness. Although she does not yet know how to repay him, she has made it a point to inform the company about his good deed.