When Markus Ong Yew Wee, 13, lost his footing on the banks of the canal and slipped into the water, his friend Rishi Kumar, 12, jumped in after him but ran into difficulty though he could swim.

It took two passers-by and Singapore Civil Defence Force officers to pull out Markus, who was conscious but breathing heavily.

The Secondary 1 student of St Andrew's Secondary School was taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital and admitted into intensive care. His parents declined to speak to reporters.

Rishi, in Primary 6 at Montfort Junior School, was still shaken yesterday evening in an interview with The Straits Times.

He said: 'I told my mother I had a stomach ache, so I didn't go to school. Markus didn't go to school too, and asked me to go fishing with him.'

His mother, Madam Anjalidevi, 40, a hospital assistant, said she did not know Rishi had sneaked out to go fishing.

'I scolded him for doing that. I won't allow him to go fishing again,' she said.

The boys are neighbours in nearby Hougang Avenue 8 and often play together after school.

Just after 9am yesterday, they arrived on their bicycles on the steep banks of the 10m-wide canal, armed with a fishing line. Rishi was headed for the toilet when he heard his friend's cries for help.

He said: 'Markus had climbed down the slope and slipped on algae. I jumped into the water to try and pull him out, but I couldn't.'

Taxi driver Tang Tee Low, 56, who was then riding home on his bicycle, saw the boys in the water and heard Rishi's screams for help.

He said: 'At first, I thought they were joking and just having a swim.'

When he realised they were in real danger, he got off his bicycle and ran into Punggol Park, where he found a 2m-long wooden pole lying against a tree.

He held it out to the boys but it was not long enough. A passing jogger grabbed a life buoy from Punggol Park and threw it in but the boys were too weak to grab it.

Then another cyclist, Mr Soh Wee Heng, 43, overheard a woman calling the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on her cellphone and ran to the scene.

Mr Soh said both boys started floating away from the bank and one of them - whom he later found out was Markus - was going under.

'That was when I dived in,' he said.

He grabbed hold of Markus to keep his head above water, but soon found himself tiring from the effort.

Meanwhile, Rishi, who was unhurt, had managed to swim to safety on the canal bank on his own.

Mr Soh said of Markus: 'He was coughing and his breathing didn't sound normal. He started to vomit and I kept asking him if he was okay, but he didn't respond.'

Within minutes, an SCDF fire engine and ambulance arrived.

SCDF Warrant Officer Mohd Ashraff Mohd Yassar, 43, immediately dived into the water, and, with the help of Staff Sergeant Muhammed Farhan, brought Markus to the canal bank. There, other SCDF officers tossed them a rope and hauled them up to safety.

Montfort Junior School's vice-principal Chua Pei Pei, 35, told The Straits Times that Rishi will be counselled to help him get over the incident.

The SCDF presented Mr Tang and Mr Soh with public spiritedness awards at Sengkang Fire Station yesterday evening.

Mr Soh said: 'If the SCDF officers hadn't reached there in time, I may have been a victim myself. I don't think I would have been able to pull the boy up on my own.'

The incident was a stark reminder of a similar one in April last year, when a girl aged 14 drowned after being washed away in a canal in Bukit Batok.

The debate over water safety awareness that followed led to the setting up of the National Water Safety Council that same month.

sujint@sph.com.sg