Poor Yogi the dog made a bit of a boo boo when he went hurtling over the edge of a mineshaft near Helston at the weekend - but despite falling almost 60 feet he lived to tell the tale.

The two-year-old Australian Huntaway, a breed of working dog similar to a Labrador crossed with a German Shepherd, was walking in an area between Helston and Hayle with his owner John Reynolds, a farmer, on Saturday night when he caught the scent of a rabbit.

Before Mr Reynolds could react Yogi was off, careering towards the mineshaft and disappearing from sight.

Despite Mr Reynolds and his family's frantic calling they could hear nothing and feared the worst.

However, they were persuaded to return to the shaft the next morning by fireman Morris Roberts, who was first on the scene to carry out an assessment following the family's emergency telephone call.

With it being too dark to carry out a further search that night, wife Helen and daughter Sue returned with Mr Roberts at 5.30am the next day, although they held little hope.

It was Mr Roberts who heard a bark and called his colleagues, with crews from Helston, Camborne and Bodmin responding.

Sue said: “If he hadn't got us to come back in the morning Yogi would still be down there running around until he died. If it wasn't for Morris he wouldn't be here.”

One firefighter was lowered into the mineshaft with a net and returned to the surface with a jubilant Yogi, who did not have a scratch on him and appeared to suffer no ill effects from his 12-hour adventure.

“He'd been running up and down an adit all night,” said Sue. “We were so happy to see him - we thought he was dead. It was horrendous.

“It was a bit embarrassing because I cried and threw myself at a fireman!

“We can't thank them enough. They gave their time and effort to come and get him when originally we hadn't thought he was alive. It's amazing. The fire service really were fantastic.”