A police dog saved a child from serious harm on Christmas Eve. The dog in the picture is not related to the incident.
A child in Korpilahti was buried under snow on Christmas Eve when a snow plough destroyed a snow cave.
A police dog in Korpilahti, Central Finland, found a missing child in a snow pile at around 10pm on Christmas Eve. The Police Dog Association wrote about the incident on its Facebook page.
The association said that the child had been seen at 7pm in their own home's yard, but there had been no sightings since then.
Snowfall had covered the child's footprints, making the search more difficult, and a canine patrol unit arrived from Jyväskylä to help.
The dog, named Kuha, eventually found the child in a large snow pile created when a snow plough had arrived to clear routes around the child's home. The child had been playing in the pile, digging snow caves.
On first inspection Kuha found nothing, but on the second try the dog noticed something and refused to leave.
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By the time the child was extracted from the snow pile, shortly after midnight, they were unconscious. In the ambulance the patient had already perked up enough to chat with first responders.
The Police Dog Association said that the child had been building a snow cave when new snow delivered by the plough destroyed the cave and buried them. There was around 1-1.5 metres of snow on top of the child, but there was a small air pocket.
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