Mountain climber who fell into deep gorge rescued by chihuahua

Swiss mountain rescuers have found a man who had fallen into a gorge. They found the man thanks to a ‘four-legged hero’, a small chihuahua who caught the rescuers' attention.

The climber was exploring the Feeglacier in southern Switzerland on Friday with his chihuahua when a glacier bridge failed and he fell about eight metres deep into a glacier crevasse. He had a phone with him to ask a friend for help, but the friend did not know exactly where on the glacier the injured man was.

Mountain rescuers began scanning the glacier from a helicopter, but the crevasse the man fell into was too small to see. After about half an hour of searching, their attention was caught by a small, furry animal - which turned out to be a chihuahua. When they focused their camera on it, they saw it running around in a small crevice.

The rescue team immediately descended near the chihuahua, realised he was in the right place, pulled the man out of the crevice and brought both the owner and his dog to safety. So reports the Air Zermatt rescue service, according to AP.

They later praised the remarkable pup on their website: ‘This dog is a four-legged hero who most probably saved his owner's life.’ Air Zermatt spokesman Bruno Kalbermatten told AP by phone: 'Imagine if the dog had not been there. I don't know what would have happened to the man. I don't think he would have survived.'

(FVDV - Bron: AP/RTVSLO - Illustratiefoto: ©Unsplash)