A 12-YEAR-OLD boy last night relived the moment when he thought he was going to die after being savaged by a dog.

Sean Young was speaking from his hospital bed as he recovered from an operation to repair his shattered wrist.

The youngster was playing football in Coxhoe, County Durham, when the Staffordshire bull terrier grabbed him.

He was saved by engineers Derek Hedley and Peter Campbell who punched and kicked the dog before dragging it off. The animal was put down by a vet.

The youngster, from Sedgefield, County Durham, said: "I couldn't get it off and I thought it was going to kill me.

"I want to thank the two men who got the dog off me because I think it would have killed me if they hadn't."

Sean's mum Denise, 38, said: "It didn't sink in how serious it was until I saw him and he was covered in blood.

"His wrist had turned 90 degrees and everyone was worried it had got the main vein because he had lost that much blood."

Sean underwent a three-hour operation to insert a pin in his arm and have skin grafts, and doctors hope he will not need any more surgery.

His father, David, 48, who works in Saudi Arabia, is frantically trying to get his passport renewed so he can fly home. Ten-year-old brother Callum is on a school trip to Holy Island.

Sean, who should be able to return home within days, added: "I'm really scared of dogs now - I keep having flashbacks. I wake up during the night sweating because I can still see it clamped onto my arm.

"I don't think I will ever be able to forget what it did. I am glad it is dead."