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Sanitation workers come to the rescue after 3-year-old flushes diamond ring

Kids do the darnedest things... like flush a diamond ring down the toilet.That's what a 3-year-old boy in California did, to his mother's horror. But sanitation workers gave the story a happy ending. The diamond and sapphire ring, which traveled one-third of a mile and was found almost two months later after intense efforts by sanitation workers in Union City, has been in the family for 60 years,

Kids do the darnedest things... like flush a diamond ring down the toilet.

That's what a 3-year-old boy in California did, to his mother's horror. But sanitation workers gave the story a happy ending. 

The diamond and sapphire ring, which traveled one-third of a mile and was found almost two months later after intense efforts by sanitation workers in Union City, has been in the family for 60 years, KTVU reported. It vanished last month.

Mom Mehvish Tapal recalled the moment she asked her son: "Where's Mama's ring?"

“He said 'Mama, I flushed it down the toilet. It's gone. It's really, really gone!'” Tapal told the station. "And the ground just went out from under my feet."

A plumber was not able to find it, so the family reached out to the local sanitation department for help. It took more than five tries and about six weeks for them to find the ring in the sewer line.

The family plans to give it to the boy when he’s older, KTVU reported.

“I don’t know if you put the ring back on,“ TODAY’s Al Roker noted.

“I think that 3-year-old was shopping it around at ‘Pawn Stars’ and he didn’t get a good price,” Tamron Hall joked.