10-Year-Old Girl Survives a Blizzard by Hugging a Dog For 18 Hours in Russia

In a frigid winter blizzard in Russia, a 10-year-old girl managed to survive by hugging a stray dog for warmth for 18 hours.

The girl held to the comfort of the stray dog before a group of officials and volunteers could find her after going missing from school in Uglegorsk, Russia, and becoming stuck in the cold heavy storm, according to Russian publications Komsomolskaya Pravda and The Siberian Times.

According to local reports, the girl went missing about 1 p.m. on January 13 before her parents called the police officers. Because the blizzard had caused up to two feet of deep snow, which made vision difficult, a team of officials and civilians worked together to search the town for the girl.

A local saw a girl playing with a stray dog near a shelter tipped the officials. The girl, who was dressed for the weather, was discovered holding the animal on a mattress under a low balcony.

The reality that the child survived under such conditions is nothing short of a miracle. The girl was transferred to a nearby hospital, but she was able to go home the next day.