Firefighters bringing the rescued dog to safety.
A woman and a dog have been rescued by firefighters from a river in Strabane.
Fire crews from Strabane and Crescent Link in Derry were assisted by a Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Water Rescue team to take a 27 year old woman and a dog from the River Mourne.
It is believed the dog had become trapped between a wall and a steel ladder having jumped the riverwall at the bottom end of Lower Main Street and the woman had got into difficulty trying to help it.
The incident occurred at around 9.00pm on Monday night last and was witnessed by local SDLP election candidate Patrick Leonard.
He said: “I was on a quick trip to the local shop for the kids’ lunches when I recieved a call from a distressed resident alerting me of an emergency at the river.
“When I arrived there were five fire tenders, a rescue van and two fire chief cars in attendance.
“The water was very fast flowing and the Fire Service did a fantastic job.
“The wonderful work of the Fire Service should never go unnoticed.
“These brave men and women are there should we ever need them.”
The incident was one of three “special service calls” involving firefighters across the North on Monday.
In Portadown, specialist animal rescue equipment was used to safely rescue a cow from the River Bann in an operation took over three hours.
In Dungannon, fire crews used specialist rescue equipment to bring a 16-year-old girl to safety after she became trapped in a tree in a local park.
The girl, who was suffered from shock, was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to Craigavon Area Hospital.
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