13-year-old Boy Discovers Rare LEGO Treasure in the Ocean

A teenage boy discovered a rare LEGO octopus on a beach in the United Kingdom, which had fallen into the ocean more than 25 years ago.

In Marazion, an idyllic coastal town situated in Cornwall, England, a 13-year-old boy named Liutauras Cemolonskas discovered a plastic octopus on a sandy beach.

Despite their fortunate discovery, the teen and his family did not stumble upon the “holy grail”of LEGO pieces by pure chance. According to his father, Vytautas Cemolonskas, they had been actively searching for the elusive octopus for two years, proving that it was not an easy find.

In 1997, the Tokio Express cargo ship lost 62 of its containers into the ocean, resulting in close to five million LEGO figurines and pieces being dumped. This incident turned these LEGO items into rare treasures.

The dedicated LEGO collector and his family have accumulated a total of 789 pieces, including the highly coveted Octopus from the renowned 1990s cargo ship and multiple fossils. Out of all the pieces, the Octopus is the most rare, with only 4,200 being on board, while there were 352,000 flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, and 92,400 swords.

Another octopus from the great Lego spill of 1997 has just turned up! It was found today by 13-year-old Liutauras on the shores of the ancient Cornish market town of Marazion and is one of 4,200 Lego octopuses lost to the sea 27 years ago. Many thanks to Vytautas Cemolonskas for… pic.twitter.com/fWhJXbrf8y

— Lego Lost At Sea (@LegoLostAtSea) April 10,

Ever since the freak wave blasted them off the ship and into the ocean, Tracey Williams has been leading the search for the missing LEGO pieces as part of her project, Lego Lost At Sea.

Although Williams first discovered a LEGO octopus in 1997, it took her 18 more years to find another one. She shared, “I believe there is something truly enchanting about these octopuses,”and went on to say, “They are often considered the ultimate treasure among all the items found in that shipping container.”

Despite his rare discovery, Liutauras shows no signs of stopping and has announced that his next objective is to search for one of the 33,941 LEGO dragons that were lost in the sea during the same incident.