The rescue happened within an hour. The organisation received the call at 3.15pm and Otto was out by 3.50pm.
“We were able to lift the concrete and take him out safely. We calmed him down and got paramedics to give him a drip. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition but he was dehydrated. He will make it,” Botha said.
Botha described the rescue as “extraordinary”.
“We have never had something like this. What is concerning is that the space he was found in was so small that it was impossible for him to get into that gutter. He must have entered somewhere else and maybe crawled to that space. He was lying there and very weak. This was my first in 14 years in the business.”
Missing man found alive in stormwater drain, sniffed out by dog
The dog out for a walk alerted its owner when it started sniffing and barking
Image: Facebook/Sinoville Firefighting Association
A dog played a vital role in the rescue of a missing 22-year-old Pretoria man who was found stuck in a stormwater drain on Wednesday afternoon.
Julian Otto, 22, from East Lynn had gone missing on Monday after he requested an e-hailing service to travel to Wonderboom, but cancelled the ride. He was found on Wednesday afternoon in Montana Park stuck inside a drain covered by a concrete slab.
Sinoville Firefighting Organisation, a nonprofit, led the rescue. Organisation leader Johan Botha told TimesLIVE that a resident had been walking with a dog on the corner of Besembiesie and Goshawk streets in Montana Park when the dog started sniffing and barking at the drain in which Otto was lying.
Image: SBBV
“We received a call from a person saying there was someone in the drain. The CPF contacted us and we mobilised our members and went to the scene.
“We at first said we'd have to break the concrete but it was on top of him and very heavy so if it fell on him it could have killed him. We then decided to lift it and, fortunately for us, the public had given us donations and we were able to buy the correct equipment.”
Image: Supplied
The rescue happened within an hour. The organisation received the call at 3.15pm and Otto was out by 3.50pm.
“We were able to lift the concrete and take him out safely. We calmed him down and got paramedics to give him a drip. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition but he was dehydrated. He will make it,” Botha said.
Botha described the rescue as “extraordinary”.
“We have never had something like this. What is concerning is that the space he was found in was so small that it was impossible for him to get into that gutter. He must have entered somewhere else and maybe crawled to that space. He was lying there and very weak. This was my first in 14 years in the business.”
Image: Suppliad
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Botha applauded community donations which support the local organisation so it can respond to life-threatening situations.
“We serve to save, we did not do this for money but purely to save lives. I am glad we could save his life.”
Otto’s mother, Estelle, told TimesLIVE: “He was full of dust but now he is clean. He is doing fine, they are observing him and making sure he is OK.”
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