Dog owner saved after frozen canal rescue fails

A man who jumped into an icy canal in to save his dog ended up being rescued by firefighters. The man leaped into the Walsall Canal off Pleck Road.

He managed to climb out of the water with his pet, believed to be an alsatian cross.

But both he and the dog found themselves trapped on the opposite side of the canal to the towpath, next to an industrial estate.

A passer-by raised the alarm after spotting them around half an hour later.

Two crews from Walsall and Wednesbury attended the scene.

Firefighter Ian Molyneux of Walsall fire station said: "We don't know how the dog came to be in the water, but it is clear the man decided to go into the canal to rescue it.

"Both managed to get out but found they could not get off the bank."

The crew from Wednesbury drove onto the industrial estate above the banking and lowered a ladder to the man.

Attempts were made to winch the dog up, but in the end it was given a fireman's lift up the ladder, by one of the crew.

Firefighter Molyneux said: "We tried to make a harness for the dog, but it was to distressed so in the end it was carried up.

"The man had been there for quite a while and was very cold."