Loyal dog spends four days at the spot where her owner fell through the ice and died while taking a shortcut across a frozen river
A faithful dog has been seen staying put where she saw her cycling owner fall through the ice of a frozen river.
Heartbreaking photos show Belka stoically waiting for her owner, who tragically drowned after falling through the ice of a frozen river while trying to take a shortcut.
After four days of searching along the Ufa River in Russia, the body of her tragically drowned owner was today found downstream from where he was lost.
The dead man’s family took Belka home several times, but she repeatedly returned to the spot where she saw him fall through the ice – eight centimeters thick – in the Bashkiria region.
The owner had taken a shortcut across the frozen river, but the ice was not thick enough to hold him.
A man tried to save her 59-year-old owner, but got into trouble.
He was swept downstream under the ice of the fast-flowing river, but was rescued
Tragically, the owner, who has not been named, fell under the ice into 7 meters of water.
Belka (pictured) was seen stoically waiting for her owner, who tragically drowned after falling through the ice of a frozen river while trying to take a shortcut
The dead man’s family took Belka home several times, but she repeatedly returned to the spot where she saw him fall through the ice
Belka stood day and night at the spot where her owner fell into the ice
While his bike was collected, it took four days – including the use of a hovercraft – to find Bella’s owner.
Kirill Pervov, head of the rescue service in Bashkiria, said: ‘During the search, the rescue team used an air cushion boat with a hook device to explore the river bottom.
“Search operations were complicated by difficult conditions: a strong current and an unstable ice crust,” he said.
He urged locals to “follow the rules of safe behavior and not endanger your lives.”
‘Don’t tread on thin ice.’
Belka shares the name of one of the famous Soviet space dogs that was sent into orbit aboard the Sputnik 5 spacecraft in 1960.
But Russians compare the faithful pet to the famous Japanese Akita dog Hachikō, a pet that waited endlessly for its late master, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the University of Tokyo.