Man and dog save drowning girls in Alberta

[Rocky7]

A man and his dog saved two young girls who fell into the icy waters of the North Saskatchewan River late Sunday afternoon.

Around 4:30, the man and his family were walking their dog Rocky, a Labrador retriever-Husky cross, on the Rundle Park footbridge when he heard screams from below. The man, in his 20s, looked down and saw one girl splashing in the water while another tried to pull her to safety. The man and Rocky bolted down to the water’s edge.


“By the time he got down there, the second girl had fallen into the water and the first was drifting downriver,” said Michael Tucker, spokesman for the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.


The man pulled a six-year-old girl from the water and set her safely on shore before he pursued the nine-year-old taken by the water.


As the man chased the girl downriver, the ice beneath him crumbled and he plunged into the cold water. Fortunately, with the help of Rocky, he was able to pull himself out. Soaked and freezing, the man continued to run downriver, desperate to keep the girl in sight.


“At times, he thought she was gone because he saw her go under a few times,” Tucker said. “She was barely hanging on.”


When close enough, Rocky jumped into the water and swam to the girl. She was able to grab his leash and the dog pulled her to shore, Tucker said. By the time the girl left the water, she was nearly at the Beverly Bridge.


When firefighters met the girl on shore, she was “barely conscious and very hypothermic. She could barely talk,” Tucker said.


Both girls were taken to the University of Alberta Hospital after firefighters brought them to paramedics waiting at a safe place on the river’s edge. Both are in stable condition.


The Good Samaritan was briefly treated by paramedics at the scene, but was not hospitalized, Tucker said.


“He went home to hug his kids and salvage his Easter dinner. This was just an unbelievable story of heroics between a man and his dog.”


Tucker added that the close-call should be a reminder to Edmontonians. “The ice surfaces of Edmonton stormwater lakes, ponds and rivers are becoming dangerous,” he said. “Ice surfaces may appear thick enough to walk on but they are hazardous and it is never safe to go on the ice of the North Saskatchewan River.”

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Edmonton+save+girls+fell+into+North+Saskatchewan+R iver/8176312/story.html

This was just a plain feel-good story and thought I'd share....Easter time and all. You fellows don't deal with river ice, I know, but I guess it's not hard to imagine.. The odds were against them. I've gone through ice in the spring; the friggin' water is cold enough to take your breath away....plus this is a big river with a stout current. If you get swept under the ice or you don't get out quick, you're done. Somebody's angel was on the job here, IMO.

ps: I like the dog's name.

[Moomin]

Thanks for sharing!
Good to see people still caring enough to help!