A brave Scots gym owner has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a young girl and three dogs who fell into a frozen loch during a freak accident.
Chris Flemming had been taking his own pet Arthur for a walk at Crombie Country Park, in Dundee, when he spotted the teenager struggling in the water alongside her two Golden Retrievers and a third pooch.
The 40-year-old ‘scooted’ over the frozen surface to reach the stricken teenager, who was struggling to stay afloat with the dogs, before smashing the ice around them, Edinburgh Live reports.
He managed to safely drag them to the edge of the loch but suffered ice burns and scratches during the dramatic rescue.
Chris told how a dog belonging to another woman had sparked the incident after it chased a ball onto the ice before falling it.
He said: "I had taken Arthur out of the car but he didn't want to move, so I picked him up and took him to a grassy area.
"I then saw this other dog just running about like mad and decided to go in a different direction."
He added: "I saw the other two girls with their two golden retrievers and saw this dog go over to them with a ball in his mouth.
"The dog then dropped his ball, which rolled down the embankment and the dog went down after it and went through the ice, then the other two dogs followed that dog and fell in.
"The girl who had the two golden retrievers ran down and tried to save them, and she's only about 19, and fell in.
"It was so icy, so I couldn't run over and had to sort of scoot over. I was telling her to stand up because I thought it couldn't be that deep but she couldn't.
"I gave Arthur to her sister, who had a newborn baby with her and was panicking."
"She was going to go in", he added.
Once in the freezing water, Chris struggled to get out as he worked to keep the two dogs and the young woman afloat.
"I was just thinking I had to crawl on my belly and I went in.
"I was trying to hold up these two golden retrievers that were kicking my legs and I had my elbow underneath this girl's chin while she's holding her dog up.
"I realised it wasn't working and the dogs were dragging me down, they were like cement. Then I saw another guy come over to help and I suddenly thought ‘I need to try and smash the ice’," he explained.
Chris said: "I started smashing the ice in front of me, I don't know where the strength came from, and told the girl and him to do the same, eventually we got to the side [of the loch] and I was just on my hands and knees."
Much to Chris's amazement, the owner of the dog that had initially fallen into the lake didn't stop to thank him for his rescue efforts, despite his heroics which also saw him damage personal items worth hundreds of pounds.
He has since taken to Facebook blasting the woman for her carelessness in a post that's been shared nearly two thousand times.
Chris said: "The woman who had one of the dogs just whistled and called 'stupid dog' and walked off, she didn't even offer to help.
"That's why I shared the post because I thought to myself 'you can't control your dog, you should have never put me in that situation'.
"I never put anything negative on Facebook but felt I had to say something because that woman really didn't give a s***.
“I didn't give it a second thought, my iPod and Apple watch were in my pocket, worth hundreds of pounds, and she just walks off.
"If I hadn't been there, that girl and dogs would have drowned, there was no one else around. I know it sounds dramatic but they would have drowned, it was that bad."
Chris, who admitted he was just thankful that he been there, later found out that the young woman rescued from the loch was a client's daughter and has been praised by the family for his lifesaving assistance.
However, the hero reveals has also received criticism online, with some suggesting he should have waited for emergency services, but insists that he wouldn't think twice about doing it again.
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He explained: "I'm not going to stand at the side of a frozen lake and watch a young girl and three dogs drown.
"It would have taken some time for emergency services to get out there. I would never stand at the side and watch it happen and for those who say I shouldn't have gone in, well, they weren't in that situation."
