Ceres police officers and firefighters rescued two apparently intoxicated men who had jumped into the TID Main Canal and were overcome by the cold and swift water early Saturday morning.

The men, aged 24 and 26, were pulled to safety and likely would have died of hypothermia or drowning if a resident had not heard their cries for help, said Ceres Police Department spokesman Lt. Chris Perry.

Perry said that for whatever reason one of the men decided to jump into the canal that runs along the eastern boundary of the Walmart store property. The other man jumped in to save him and they both were swept downstream by the rapid current. They began to panic and screamed for help which awakened a resident whose house backs up to the canal and called 911. Officers were dispatched at 1:33 a.m. and were joined by Ceres Fire engine #18 returning from a call and near the canal. Fire personnel first spotted the men who by then were on separate sides of the canal and moving rapidly. Firefighters and police officer were able to grab both men and pull them out of the water. Paramedics tended to one of the men who reported leg pain.