A COURAGEOUS teenage soldier risked his life to rescue a puppy that was drowning in the icy depths of a Tunbridge Wells lake.

Stefan Montandon, 18, did not think twice when he saw the hapless animal fall into the water after running across ice on Dunorlan Park lake. As the ice broke under the dog, its elderly owner looked on helplessly.

Stefan, visiting his parents while on leave from infantry training with the Rifles regiment in Catterick, Yorkshire, said: "I grabbed the life ring and gave the rope to my friend while I walked into the water with it."

He waded out across the lake to depths which reached his chest, and pulled the dog out by its collar.

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