DUBLIN — An Irish father who lost his wedding ring in a fast-moving river in Tuscany got it back months later from three Italian strangers. They spent days diving to find it, then flew about 1,000 miles to Ireland dressed as hobbits from "The Lord of the Rings" to return it by hand.

Patrick Mohr, from Dun Laoghaire on the coast south of Dublin, was on a summer holiday in Italy with his wife, Joanne McHugh, and their three daughters when the 18-carat gold band slipped off his finger in early July.

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The family was swimming in a clear mountain stream near Bagni di Lucca, a spa town in the hills north of Lucca. Mohr was catching his children as they jumped from a boulder into the water. One of them grabbed his hand, and the ring was pulled off and swept away by the current.

"I just stood there a little bit paralysed with instant knowledge it's gone," Mohr told CBC Radio's "As It Happens." "I didn't see much hope in it."

The couple had been married for 16 years, and Mohr said the loss was about far more than the gold.

"It's not about the gold ring, it's about the sentimental value of what it means," he said.

While Mohr stood in the water,........

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