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The restaurant in Kamloops where rescuers pulled a woman to safety.

An off-leash dog and its anxious owner are alive thanks to the quick actions of three Kamloops, B.C., men who put their own lives in danger to pull the pair to safety.

Tom Blair says he and two buddies were in a restaurant overlooking the ice-covered Thompson River late Wednesday afternoon when they saw a dog run onto the ice, with its owner in pursuit.

Within moments, both had broken through the thin ice and were struggling in the frigid water as the three men raced to help.

Blair says he sprawled on the ice in his T-shirt while his friends lay spread-eagled behind him, each holding a leg of the man in front, as Blair pushed a stick toward the struggling woman and she grabbed on.

That's when one of the men behind Blair also shattered the ice, and all three had cracked through by the time other rescuers arrived with ropes to pull them, the woman and the dog to safety.

Despite the harrowing rescue, the four humans and the dog are okay, although the woman was taken to hospital to be checked over.