A dog helped a mountaineer after he fell and was stuck in a ravine for 13 hours.
Grga Brkic was injured after falling 150 metres while climbing the highest peak of Velebit, a mountain range on the Adriatic coast, on New Year’s Day.
Twenty-seven rescuers were involved in his recovery but it took 13 hours to extract him from the ravine as “snow, ice, landslides and broken trees blocked the trails” to reach him, the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS) explained in a statement.
Brkic was accompanied on the expedition by his cousin’s dog, North, an eight-month-old Alaskan Malamute.
The youngster helped Brkic survive by curling up on top of the mountaineer and keeping him warm.
“Friendship and love between man and dog know no bounds,” HGSS wrote on Facebook with a picture of Brkic lying on a stretcher with the dog curled up on his lap.
“North fell without injuries, but his friend, a young mountaineer, was not so lucky. He curled up with him and warmed him with his body. His loyalty didn’t stop even when rescuers arrived, he was one of us, guarding this man for 13 hours.
“From this example, we can all learn about caring for each other.”
North’s owner described his pet to the daily Jutarnji List newspaper as “a real miracle, nice friendly, maybe he loves people more than dogs”.
