A stray dog struggled to stay afloat in a pond for hours before onlookers found and rescued him.

Kip Saitip was eating at a food distribution centre in Bangkok, Thailand on July 28 when she heard a crying dog at the nearby vacant lot.

She said: "It's not far away from the distribution point. My friends who were eating upstairs also heard the sound so we hurried to find it."

The concerned group of friends tried to locate the source by following the sound after quickly finishing their meals.

They came across a swamp hidden in the vegetation and there they saw the helpless dog almost drowning and struggling to float.

Kip rushed to the water to save the drowning puppy but she said nobody in their group knows how to swim.

She said: "I do not know how to swim, I thought if I drowned, nobody would be there to save me, but at that point, the puppy's life mattered more than my fear of drowning."

Kip managed to get into the swamp safely by tying a rope to a nearby tree to ensure her safety when getting into the water.

At first, the dog was frightened and would not let her help, but after multiple attempts, she was able to take hold of the drowning puppy and carry him up to ground safely.