10-Year-Old Girl Survives 18 Hours in a Blizzard Thanks to the Warmth of a Stray Dog

In the harsh conditions of a Russian winter tempest, a girl of 10 years clung to life for 18 hours. Her lifesaving grace: A stray dog.

She vanished after departing from her Uglegorsk school and was swept into a frigid snowstorm, but she managed to stay warm by embracing the street dog until a search party composed of officials and local helpers located her, as reported by Russian dailies Komsomolskaya Pravda and The Siberian Times.

Without a name disclosed by the officials, the young girl was last seen at 1 p.m. on the 13th of January. Following her disappearance, her mother urgently contacted the police, local news sources noted.

The blizzard caused snow drifts of up to two feet, resulting in almost zero visibility, which led to the combined efforts of the search party to comb through the town in the hope of locating the girl.

Ultimately, a resident’s observation led to the breakthrough, recalling a child engaging with a stray dog by a structure, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda. Well-equipped for the freezing weather, the girl was discovered beneath a shelter’s balcony, clutching the dog on a mattress.

She described her experience, saying she was “hugging a fluffy dog for warmth.” ASTV, a Russian news channel, reported that although the girl received care at a nearby hospital, she was discharged and sent home on the same day.