Amusing footage shows frantic villagers nervously rescuing a man from the river whom they thought was already dead, but was actually just having a swim.

The homeless man was seen silently floating in a canal before neighbours called the emergency services for help as they assumed he was drowning.

Motorist Kholar Phommachan was riding back home after visiting a local mart with a friend in Vientiane, Laos on July 4 when he passed by the commotion and stopped to film it.

In the video, a paramedic went down the deep bank using the stairs to reach the floating man. However, they were surprised to see that he is actually just cooling off and not drowning.

The volunteers helped the man to step up the shore before giving him water to clean his dirty body.

Kholar said he also thought the man drowned in the water and died.

He added: "I was surprised but relieved that he was alive. He was probably hot and wanted to have a swim but he does not have a home so he went to the canal."

Amusing footage shows frantic villagers nervously rescuing a man from the river whom they thought was already dead, but was actually just having a swim.

The homeless man was seen silently floating in a canal before neighbours called the emergency services for help as they assumed he was drowning.

Motorist Kholar Phommachan was riding back home after visiting a local mart with a friend in Vientiane, Laos on July 4 when he passed by the commotion and stopped to film it.

In the video, a paramedic went down the deep bank using the stairs to reach the floating man. However, they were surprised to see that he is actually just cooling off and not drowning.

The volunteers helped the man to step up the shore before giving him water to clean his dirty body.

Kholar said he also thought the man drowned in the water and died.

He added: "I was surprised but relieved that he was alive. He was probably hot and wanted to have a swim but he does not have a home so he went to the canal."