A cyclist who  crashed and injured himself while riding in Romania may owe his life to a stray dog after it curled up next to him to keep him warm until rescuers arrived.

The incident happened in the Semenic mountains in the west of the country last month, reports Romania Insider, with the 40-year-old cyclist sustaining a broken clavicle after crashing.

By the time gendarmes arrived, he was suffering slight hypothermia – but clearly would have been in a worse situation had the dog not shared its body heat with him.

Posting to the Jandarmeria Caras Severin page on Facebook, they wrote: “The big surprise, and the emotional part of this incident was when the cyclist fell and remained laying on the road.

“A dog came from the woods and laid besides the victim as to warm him with its body. When we arrived, the dog didn’t leave his side and remained there until the ambulance arrived.”

Last month we reported how in the United States, a cyclist in Georgia found a stray dog that had been run over and put it over his shoulders to take it to the local town.

> Cyclist finds stray dog run over by car, puts it on his back, and finds it a new home

He encountered a woman who was visiting on business from Maine and was so taken by the dog that she adopted it, paid for its vets’ fees and had it flown to join her at its new home.

There’s a happy ending in this case too – according to Romania Insider, an official from the Caras Severin County Council has adopted the dog that kept the injured cyclist warm.