Family's grief as pet Chihuahua dies in blazing camper van after jumping in to ...

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A family has been left devastated after their Chihuahua died when it ran into a burning van to try to rescue it's owner and her three-year-old daughter.

Dan and Cara Farrant were on a road trip to Scotland to see in the New Year when their camper van started billowing smoke from the engine on the motorway.

Mr Farrant, 34, managed to get his three sons, aged five, six and nine, out of the van, but his wife Cara and three-year-old Thea were briefly trapped inside when the passenger door got stuck as flames licked the windscreen.

Ms Farrant tossed chihuahua Coco out of the window in desperation, but after the mother and her daughter were pulled from the van, Coco ran back inside thinking the pair were still trapped.

As confusion reigned in the dark on the A74M near Moffatt, Scotland, the family didn't realise that Coco had scampered back into the van - which then exploded. 

Mr Farrant, who runs a removals firm in Folkestone, Kent, said the family were on their way to Glasgow when then van burst into flames on December 29.