An injured Golden Retriever abandoned by its owner high up on a mountain was rescued by hikers who ventured into the dark to bring it down safely after a 10-hour mission.

The dog was accompanying its owner when it was injured and left stranded at an altitude of 7,800 feet in the mountains at Tiewa Palace, near Pengzhou, in Sichuan, China, on March 20.

Other climbers who saw it pleaded for help in an online group. Later that night, nine hikers volunteered to go on a search and rescue mission and found the Golden Retriever.

They made a makeshift stretcher with bed sheets and wooden sticks and spent 10 hours rescuing the dog, taking six hours to descend the mountain.

Mr Jiang was one of the people who posted the call for aid. He explained that he set off to climb TiewaPalace on the morning of 20.

At 5:30 in the morning, he met a man with a Golden Retriever going to climb the mountain.

According to Jiang, he chatted with him for a while, and then the man, with the Golden Retriever and others, set off together.

Jiang said: 'I started climbing at 7:30 in the morning.'

When he climbed to an altitude of 8,000 feet, he encountered the Golden Retriever and its owner. Due to poor road conditions, they did not reach the summit and retreated.

Jiang travelled a bit further when he reached an area covered in thick snow with bloodstains on it and realised it was too risky to continue to the top.

On his way down and as he reached around 7,800 feet, Jiang saw the Golden Retriever, but its owner was not around.

He continued: 'There were four of us, two went forward to chase the owner, and the lady and I stayed on the scene, feeding the dog.

'I felt that its hind legs were injured. The bloodstains I saw on the snow earlier were likely the dog's.'

Word of the incident quickly reached more than 100 people in the online group, according to Jiang.

Out of those, nine who were the braves decided to go search for the dog despite the harsh terrain and with little daylight remaining.

Yutian, one of the hikers who participated in the rescue, told local media:'I saw the message being forwarded in various chat groups and volunteered to come over.'

Eight men, including him, and one woman started the search and rescue operation around 9:30pm, Yutian said.

On the mountain, the group was reportedly faced with heavy fog and poor visibility.

Nevertheless, because they knew the area well, they were able to locate the injured pup within two hours.

Yutian said that a hiker brought a knife, cut some bushes into sticks on the spot, and made a makeshift stretcher with bedsheets.

They started carrying the Golden Retriever down the mountain at midnight. The descent was very steep, with cliffs on the side.

When the eight men took turns carrying the dog down the mountain, it was already past six in the morning on 21.

Yutian said:'Normally, it only takes us a little over an hour to descend the mountain, but it took us six hours because we were carrying the Golden Retriever.'

With the owner nowhere to be found, the rescuers took the pup, which they named Tiewa Palace, to a local pet hospital for treatment.

Jiang said Tiewa Palace is considered one of the most difficult mountains in the region.

Tiewa Palace is located in Xiaoyudong Town at an altitude of approximately 11,260 feet. It is the highest peak of the front mountain of Longmen Mountain. Its terrain is treacherous, with towering peaks.

Many outdoor enthusiasts refer to it as the 'outdoor graduation route', as climbing Tiewa Palace is equivalent to obtaining a 'graduation certificate'.