For two and a half hours, a stray dog named Mali lay completely submerged in hardened rubberized asphalt at an industrial estate in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand, with only the corner of her mouth breaking the surface. That small gap was the only thing keeping her alive.

Workers at the site had dumped rubberized asphalt, a waste material typically used in road repair, onto the bare ground beside a silo. The material, once cooled and set, is dense enough to trap and hold an animal in place. Dozens of stray Aspin dogs roam the industrial estate, and Mali had walked directly into it before the surface gave any visible warning.

How She Was Found

Supatra Baisri, 30, was passing through the area when he spotted Mali lying in the mixture. She had fallen over as the asphalt grabbed her, and by the time Baisri reached her, the material had hardened around her entire body. Only a sliver of her mouth remained above the surface, giving her the bare minimum of oxygen needed to stay conscious.

Baisri raised the alarm and emergency services responded. The rescue team quickly determined that manual removal was not possible, and an excavator was brought in to dig the hardened material away from around Mali's body.

What Made This Rescue Possible

Here is the detail that changes how the rescue reads: rubberized asphalt is the same material used to repair and seal road surfaces. It bonds under pressure and hardens as it cools, which is exactly what makes it effective for infrastructure work. That same property is what locked Mali in place. To separate it from her fur and skin without causing serious damage, workers from a nearby factory applied benzin oil directly to her coat throughout the excavation. Without it, pulling the hardened rubber away would have stripped her fur and likely torn her skin.

The combination of the excavator and the benzin oil treatment is what made her survival possible. Neither alone would have been enough.

Mali's Recovery

The full rescue took two and a half hours. Once Mali was freed, she was taken in by Supatra Baisri and placed under veterinary care. Vets gave her the name Mali. She is now completing her recovery in Baisri's care and is reported to be in significantly better spirits.

A vet who treated her was direct about the margin: "People need to be much more careful about how they dispose of rubbish. It can cause so much harm to animals. If nobody had found Mali she would have died."

The rubberized asphalt had been left in an open area without any barrier or warning, in a zone where stray dogs move freely every day. Mali survived because one person happened to walk past at the right time.