A kind local rescued a pet dog that was thrown into the river by his owner.

Songwit Khonglim said he had gone out to fish in Uthai Thani province early morning on September 15 when a car stopped near him to drop something into the water.

He went closer to inspect and found the pooch lying abandoned and struggling to move amid the grass and water hyacinths.

He said: ‘I heard something fell into the water when the car passed. I thought it was just garbage but I saw a dog swimming, so I called the rescue volunteers.’

The rescue team had to use a crane to reach the dog under the bridge. A volunteer was then lowered down to reach the animal and pull him up to safety.

The man then used a pole to grab the dog’s collar and took it up onto the dry road. The male dog was uninjured and adopted by one of the locals.

Songwit said: ‘Thank you very much to the people who helped rescue the dog.’