Woman and Her Dog Endure 18 Hours Stuck in Canal Before Being Rescued: 'She Was About to Give Up'

A train conductor finally spotted the woman while passing the canal and called for help, the Yuma County Sheriff's Office said

An Arizona woman and her dog spent 18 hours fighting for their lives last week after the woman tried to save the pup from a canal.

Officials from the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and Wellton Police Department came to the pair's rescue on Wednesday after dispatch received a call around noon regarding "a person that appeared to be in distress" in the Yuma canal, according to a post on the YSCO's Facebook page.

Police say the woman slipped into the Yuma canal around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday while attempting to retrieve her 55-lb. dog from the water after noticing it was having a hard time getting back on land.

A train conductor had spotted the woman while passing the canal and called for help, the sheriff's office said.

Rescuers reached the woman, who was hanging onto a tree and her dog, just in the nick of time, Wellton Police Sgt. Juan Salcido told FOX affiliate KSAZ-TV.

"She made the statement to me, and I know to deputies, that she was about to give up until she heard our sirens," he explained.

Neither the woman nor her dog appeared to have suffered critical injuries as a result of the incident, police said.

"We want to thank everyone involved in assisting with this rescue, including the train conductor who spotted the subject in the water and called 911," the sheriff's office, wrote in a statement on Facebook.

The YCSO shared bodycam footage of the rescue on its Facebook page and with KSAZ-TV, which shows officers' intense efforts to rescue the victims from the water.

Officers from the Wellton Police Department were already on scene assisting the victim when YCSO deputies arrived at the scene.

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While attempting to hoist the woman from the water, the strap being used by officials broke. One official appeared to toss her a bungy-like cord while one YSCO deputy fashioned a loop out of his K-9 long line leash and threw it around the woman, who was then pulled to safety.

"Her body told the story of her constantly fighting," Salcido told KSAZ-TV. "She had abrasions to her whole arms. She had abrasions to her legs. She had a sunburn. She looked very exhausted to the point where she couldn't stand on her own two feet."

On Saturday, the victim's brother shared a message in the comments section of the YSCO's Facebook post, saying how "so VERY thankful" he is "to all the Deputies and First Responders who assisted in this rescue."

"It shows the excellent communication, teamwork, training and quick thinking between YCSO and the Wellton PD," he wrote alongside a photo of himself and his sister. "Even when the strap broke, you were quick to find a solution and pull her to safety."

He later added, "To Sergeant Salcido, Deputy Rice, Officer Meza, EA Williams and all of the unsung HEROES who were involved in this rescue, THANK YOU so very much for saving my sister's life!!!"