This is the incredible moment a brave driver spots a drowning dog in a flooded river - and strips off to jump in and rescue it

Boontavee Moonsri, 52, saw the pooch, which had escaped from a nearby house, floating in the muddy water after monsoons in Phayao Province, northern Thailand.

He pulled over and stripped to his underpants, racing down the steep bank before bravely plunging into the fast-flowing Phee river to swim to the stranded black Labrador named 'Boss'.

Dramatic footage shows him swept away by the current as the dog’s head starts to fall below the water.

But Boontavee grabs a fallen branch and calls over the dog, who paddles to him before being pulled under the fast-flowing river with exhaustion.

Eventually Khun Boontavee was able to swim with the dog back to the river bank and clamber out of the water and the dog was reunited with its owner who had been searching for him after he escaped from home in the Chiang Muan district.

Boontavee said he was driving by at 10am when he saw people on the bridge and stopped to investigate.

He said: ''My only thought was to save the dog’s life. I tried to swim closer to the dog and at the same time shouted for it to come near. I shouted several times before the dog agreed to swim closer to me.''

The soldier, 23, who filmed the clip, said: ‘’He’s a very brave man. He held the dog and swam back to the side of the river. The dog had escaped then fell into the river. It’s lucky there was someone there to help it. People were just walking by and saw the dog.''