Dog saves girl from cold by cuddling up to her

A stray dog has been hailed a hero after it saved the life of a three-year-old girl who had gone missing on freezing marshland - by cuddling up to her throughout the night.

Little Julia wandered out of her grandmother's home, in Pierzwin, Poland, with a local mongrel called Czarue as the sun set on Friday.

But as darkness fell the friends got lost as they wandered deeper into a nearby forest.

When her grandmother Danuta realised the little girl was missing she raised the alarm, triggering a major search operation as temperatures dropped to -5C.

It was not until the next moing that the rescue team stumbled across Julia, wet from lying on moist ground, clinging on to Czarue and crying for her mother - four miles from her home.

Fireman Grzegorz Szymonowski said: 'This dog is the most important part of this story, he is a hero. It is thanks to this dog that the girl survived the night.

Bo free: Czarue runs through the village of Pierzwin, in Poland, where he lives

Creature comfort: Little Julia wandered out of her grandmother's home, in Pierzwin, Poland, with Czarue as the sun set on Friday

Search: Julia's disappearance sparked a massive search operation with more than 200 rescue crews scouring the countryside throughout the night

'We ran around 500 metres, and there was silence. We stood to listen further and we heard the dog and later the crying of a child. We went in the direction and saw the child lying in the shrubs, she was wet because there was water in the forest.'

Her grandmother Danuta Balak said the dog had become the girls best friend, adding: 'She was with this dog all the time. She didn't go anywhere without it.

'When she was with me, when I was looking after her, she constantly said, \"Granny, the dog needs to come in the house\". And she told me to cut bread and she fed it all the time.'