This is the astonishing moment a man is snapped crawling across an icy river in just his underpants to rescue his dog.
The owner is pictured inching across the River Stour before tumbling into the freezing water just metres away from his pet.
Incredibly, both the owner and the dog managed to clamber out of the river unscathed, if a little cold, and then continued their walk.
Firefighters were quick to condemn the man's actions as "extremely dangerous" and warned others not to follow suit.
The scene was captured by Paul Wenborne, 52, who was walking his own dog by the river in bitterly cold temperatures on Sunday.
He said he was with two friends and watched in disbelief as the owner stripped down to his pants and began crawling across the ice.
He said: "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. You always hear about people dying doing stuff like this. It really was a foolish act of bravery."
A spokesman for Essex fire service said: "While the ice appears to be strong it can be very thin."
The ice remained across much of the country this weekend, with the mercury dipping as low as -15.6C in Holbeach, Lincolnshire .
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