This is the moment a lucky pup was rescued from a river in central China by a man carefully scooping it out of the water with an excavator.

The pup had fallen into the water after getting too curious about the digger’s work dredging the waterway, in the city of Zhengzhou, Henan Province on 24th November, according to local media.

So, the quick-thinking excavator operator – recorded by Mr Liu – lowered his scoop to see if he could grab the young dog before it drowned.

Adorable footage of the rescue shows the operator using incredible precision to position the scoop behind the pup without injuring it.

Then delicately he brings it forward trying to land the dog so he can pull him out.

After one false start, he grabs the pup and brings him back to land where he deposits a very muddy – but otherwise healthy – passenger on dry land.

Mr Liu said that he felt touched after seeing that there are still many good people.

After the puppy was rescued, Mr Liu said he learned that it was actually a stray, but kind locals decided to take it in.

He shared the footage of the rescue on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Netizens were moved by the video, and user ‘Line cloud’ even said: “When the heart is good, steel teeth and iron claws can be so gentle.”