This is the dramatic moment a heroic police officer jumped into a canal to rescue a drowning man in Thailand.

Police Sergeant Major Thammarat Sriamphan and Police Lance Corporal Natchapol Jannakha were on patrol when they received a report that a man had jumped from a bridge in Suphan Buri province on January 23 afternoon.

They rushed to the scene and found the distressed local being swept by the current toward a raft of water hyacinths.

Without hesitation, Natchapol swam across the canal and dragged the man identified only as Patthara, 64, back to shore in the Song Phi Nong district.

The officers said Patthara was exhausted and in a daze. He was rushed to the Somdet Phra Sangkharat 17th Hospital for treatment.

Natchapol said: 'As soon as we were notified, we immediately went to the bridge. When we got there, we saw him floating and we could only see his face.

'We had no time, so I took off my uniform and jumped into the canal to help him.'

Police said Patthara may have jumped from the bridge because he was stressed over his chronic illness.

Police Colonel Kiatchai Kerdchok, superintendent of the Song Phi Nong Police Station, said police and Patthara's relatives were monitoring him to keep him from trying to harm himself.