A heartbreaking video has emerged of a puppy being rescued from a storm drain in Phoenix, South Africa that sadly later died.

The footage, shot by a volunteer rescue technician earlier this month, shows a whole team of rescuers breaking through the ground to get to and free the puppy.

The team can be seen monitoring the small dog in the drain with a camera and eventually managed to pull her from the ground after four and a half hours of digging.

But while the dog survived the initial rescue the experience proved too much for it. "At some point however the drain had filled up with water, and the poor pup was drenched and developed canine flu over the following few days after her rescue. Sadly she didn't make it..." the filmer later wrote online.

A heartbreaking video has emerged of a puppy being rescued from a storm drain in Phoenix, South Africa that sadly later died.

The footage, shot by a volunteer rescue technician earlier this month, shows a whole team of rescuers breaking through the ground to get to and free the puppy.

The team can be seen monitoring the small dog in the drain with a camera and eventually managed to pull her from the ground after four and a half hours of digging.

But while the dog survived the initial rescue the experience proved too much for it. "At some point however the drain had filled up with water, and the poor pup was drenched and developed canine flu over the following few days after her rescue. Sadly she didn't make it..." the filmer later wrote online.