Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

Video Credit:CEN

This is the moment a caring dog owner dives into a fast-flowing and potentially deadly river to save his pooch after it slipped into the waters.

The incident took place in the district of San Miguelito, in the sector of Samaria, in Panama province in Panama after a rainstorm caused the Sinai to burst its banks.

Local media Manuel Calderon, 35, who sells vegetables for a living had crossed the river and was waiting for his dog Fulo to follow him.

In the video, the white pooch can be seen in the shallows of the river when it slips into the powerful current with a yelp.

Calderon does not hesitate and dives into the water after the pooch. He swims after the dog and appears to catch up with it before stopping at a bank.

An onlooker shouts “help him” and the dog owner can then be seen walking back upstream with the pooch in his arms.

Calderon told reporters: “I was focused on the dog. And thank God I managed to grab him, some metres later, I threw him onto the bank and got out some metres later.”

He admitted that he did not think about the risk of jumping to the river, saying “an animal, just for being an animal, does not deserve to be disregarded, because it is a life after all. I ask you to take care of them because they also have feelings.”

Local media report Calderon grew up by himself as he was abandoned by his parents.

Hector Valdes, the Mayor of the city, told local media that Calderon had joined the Department of Animal Welfare.

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