A Suffolk man has praised the "unbelievable" efforts of firefighters who rescued his dog after it spent more than 24 hours stuck underground.
On the morning of November 22, Richard Hill, a cameraman from Suffolk, was walking his 11-year-old Jack Russell called, Freddy, in Birmingham, the dog vanished.
Mr Hill, 55, who was staying in Birmingham to care for his mother, said “I thought I’d seen him for the last time."
After spending Monday looking for him, Mr Hill called 999 at 8am on Tuesday, once he'd worked out where Freddy was by placing his phone in a hole and recording the dog's distressed whimpers.
Using the what3words app, Mr Hill sent Staffordshire and West Midlands Fire Service his exact location, and within three minutes a team of five firefighters were on the scene.
They were joined by the RSPCA and members of the West Midlands Technical Rescue Team who began a two hour dig for the dog.
Mr Hill said “The firefighters were just unbelievable. Freddy is epileptic and needs to take medication, so I was very worried he’d gone for good.
“It was just incredible when he ran out of the hole – just like nothing had happened! He’s a bit orange at the moment, because of the colour of the soil.
"He’ll definitely be staying on the lead the next time we go out!”
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