A couple captured the incredible moment a group of strangers rescued a dog that had fallen 15 feet into a choppy river below.
Trace Gotsis and his wife, Kelsey Silver, had no idea what was happening on their walk to the gym when they encountered a group looking over the edge of the large drop.
But they soon discovered a dog named Cosmo had fallen into the Tagus River in Lisbon, Portugal.
When Trace and Kelsey approached the group on February 9, they had thrown a rope into the water, so one man was climbing down and encouraging the dog to swim towards his grasp.
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But despite the man getting ahold of Cosmo, with only one hand for the man to climb with, the group abandoned that method when Cosmo fell back into the water.
Then, an elderly lady noticed a set of old stairs built into the wall about 300 meters away, so the group focused on guiding the dog to the base of the stairs.
Having realized they were trying to help, a clever Cosmo decided to follow the group’s lead, bravely swimming through the choppy waters towards the bottom of the steps.
Eventually, after several minutes of fighting a strong current, Cosmo made it to safety, where he was reunited with his owner.
According to Trace, Cosmo’s owner told the group they walk along that section of the river every day with Cosmos off his leash, and it has never happened before.
On that particular day, however, the ground and stones were wet from the rain, which caused Cosmo to slip and fall over the edge of the wall before he could stop himself.
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Trace, 33, said: “It was such an emotional rollercoaster, but it was such an incredibly positive sight to see – all of these people coming together to help this dog and his owner.
“We were so scared for the dog because of how tiny he looked amongst the strong river current.
“Seeing everyone joining forces to save this dog was truly amazing and heart-warming.
“There have been many emotions from so many people, saying they were so nervous watching the video, but also so relieved and happy to see the dog be safely rescued.”