THIS is the heartbreaking moment a loyal dog waited for her owner to return for four days after he drowned.
Belka kept returning to the spot where she saw her friend, 59, fall through the ice on the 23ft-deep Ufa River in Russia.
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The brave dog can be seen casually waiting for the man to return while officials deal with the tragic death she knew nothing about.
And the night didn't faze her either, as stunning footage shows Belka glowing in the dark as she continues her mission.
Malik Belka died after taking a dangerous shortcut through ice that wasn't thick enough to hold him up — only three-quarters of an inch thick.
He was swept under the ice on the fast-flowing river.
It took four days to find the body.
So despite the fact that Belka was waiting in the wrong place where her friend's body was, she bravely stood guard anyway, refusing to give up hope.
The family of the dead man took Belka home several times, but she returned again and again to the place where she had seen him fall.
This horrific situation almost claimed another life, as a rescuer went out to try to save the pet's owner, almost losing his life in the process.
The man was found suffering from severe frostbite.
A bicycle belonging to its owner was found before the end of the search for his body, which lasted four days.
“During the search operation, the rescue team used an airbag boat equipped with a mooring device to scan the river bed,” said Kirill Pervov, head of the rescue service in Bashkiria.
“Research work was complicated by difficult conditions – a strong current and an unstable ice crust.”
He urged local residents to “follow the rules of safe behavior and not put their lives in danger.”
“Don't go out on thin ice.”
Belka is named after one of the famous Soviet space dogs that was sent into orbit aboard the Sputnik 5 spacecraft in 1960.
The Russians compare the loyal pet to the famous Japanese Akita dog Hachiko, a pet that waited endlessly for its master, Hidesaburo Ueno.
Hidesaburo was a professor at the University of Tokyo and died.
Tragic drowning cases of children
In December 2022, it was revealed that drowning was the cause of death of four children at Babs Mill in Solihull, West Midlands.
Brothers Samuel Butler, six, and Finlay Butler, eight, lost their lives along with their cousins Thomas Stewart, 11, and Jack Johnson, 10.
They died after falling through Frozen lake.
They were said to “play” on the ice before it cracked.
The preliminary inquest, held in Birmingham on Monday, was told that three of the boys were rescued after 22 minutes in the water.
A fourth was recovered from the lake 31 minutes later.
Birmingham and Solihull's chief coroner, Louise Hunt, described the circumstances as a “devastating tragedy”.
“I think, respectfully, it's fair to say that they very unfortunately died as a result of the impact of drowning.”
In a sad statement, parents Samuel, Finley and Thomas wrote: “We as a family are devastated to lose our beautiful boys in such tragic circumstances.
“We would like to thank the emergency services for everything they did in saving the boys, and thank the community for their support, it has been overwhelming.”
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