PORT NECHES — A 52-year-old Groves man was transported to The Medical Center of Southeast Texas after he slipped and fell into a Port Neches canal on Monday.

Port Neches Police Chief Paul Lemoine said the man and a friend were at the canal on Orchard Street off FM 366 when the incident occurred shortly after 3 p.m.

The victim was walking down the canal bank toward the water to look at alligators, a friend told police, when he slipped and fell.

The other man was walking with a cane and could not get to the water to assist because the area was slippery and muddy. The man in the water was unresponsive when emergency services arrived.

A passerby called 911, Lemoine said.