Puppy leads rescuers to 3-year-old girl lost in Siberian forest for 11 days

Thanks to her faithful puppy, 3-year-old Karina Chikitova is now safe and sound after surviving on wild berries and river water for 11 days in a Siberian forest.

According to the Siberian Times, Karina's mother assumed the little girl had gone with her father to his home village on July 29. Karina's father thought the 3-year-old was with her mother.

Karina's mother wasn't able to contact her husband for four days. When she did, she discovered Karina and the family dog were both missing, likely having wandered off in pursuit of her father who didn't know the girl was following him.

Days later, Karina's puppy returned to her village. That's when rescuers assumed the worst.

"That was the moment when our hearts sank, because we thought at least with her dog Karina had chances to survive — nights in Yakutia are cold and some areas have already gone into minus temperatures. If she was to hug her puppy, we thought, this would have given her a chance to stay warm during nights and survive," Afanasiy Nikolayev, a spokesman for the Sakha Republic Rescue Service, told the Siberian Times.

"So when her dog came back we thought, 'That's it' — even if she was alive — and chances were slim — now she would have definitely have lost all hopes. Our hearts truly and deeply sank."

To their surprise, the puppy led rescuers straight to Karina, who "was conscious and looked surprisingly well" after living in the wild for 11 days.

She had made a bed in the grasses, out of sight from helicopters and drones looking for her. Despite being on her own in an area roamed by bears and wolves — and where temperatures dropped to 6 C at night — she was unharmed.

She is now recovering from the ordeal and rebuilding her strength at a hospital. She suffered no only scratches and bug bites. She is no longer in intensive care.

"We can say that the girl's mind was not hurt. She is talking, she reacts normally to everything around her. She recalls what happened to her," said Ekaterina Andreeva, a psychologist with the rescue team.

Karina is expected to make a full recovery.