Post date: Mar 03, 2013 6:56:11 PM
Fire-fighters say a dog saved the life of a 3-year old girl by keeping her warm throughout the night, until rescue teams found her the next morning. The girl was discovered in a marsh a few kilometres from her home without serious injuries.
PIERZWIN, POLAND (MARCH 2, 2013) (TVN24) - Fire-fighters say a dog probably saved the life of a three-year old girl after she went missing and was found the next morning on Saturday (March 2).
Temperatures dropped below zero Celsius during the night of the search, but the dog, called Czarek, was keeping the child warm and alerted rescue team as they approached, said Grzegorz Szymonowski, who was in charge of the search."We ran around 500 metres, and there was silence. We stood to listen further and we heard the dog and later the crying of a child. We went in the direction and saw the child lying in the shrubs, she was wet because there was water in the forest," Szymonowski said.
"This dog is the most important in this story, he is a hero. Thanks to this dog I think the girl survived the night," he added.
The girl, Julia, went missing on Friday (March 1) from her home in the village of Pierzwin in south-western Poland and a search ensued involving more than 200 fire-fighters and police, with hundreds more offering to assist from surrounding villages and the nearest city Zielona Gora.
She was found in a forest around 4 kilometres from her house, wet from lying on moist ground.
Julia's grandmother said she never parted with the dog.
"She was with this dog all the time. She didn't go anywhere without it. When she was with me, when I was looking after her, she constantly (said) 'Granny, call Czarek into the house.' And she told me to cut bread and she fed it all the time," Danuta Balak said.
Head of the paediatric ward in Zielona Gora hospital Kazimiera Barczyk said the girl is being treated for light symptoms of frostbite.
"The only unusual symptoms are swollen hands and feet, probably from the frost. A surgeon inspected this and prescribed ointments. The next few days will show if there is some deeper frostbite, or just surface changes," Barczyk said.
"This dog, which was with her most probably kept her warm. It lay down next to her when she fell asleep. She was walking and walking, and fell asleep when she got tired. The child was brought just before eight o'clock, at the beginning she was scared of people, and she was in shock. At the moment her mother is going through a lot of stress," she added.
Police and fire-fighters said that damp soil and marshes in the surrounding forests made the search especially difficult for the use of search dogs and a police helicopter found no trace of the girl on the ground.