Two Young Boys Nearly Drown at Castlewood

Two young boys almost drowned late Tuesday in the Meramec River at Castlewood State Park near Ballwin, multiple news outlets reported.

The victims, who authorities said were around age 11, were overheard screaming for help by three teenagers who rescued the boys, a Metro West Fire Protection District representative told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"We’re proud of what they did," Metro West spokesman Michael Thiemann said of the teens, according to the Post-Dispatch. "We were all fortunate this time. That is a treacherous part of the river and we want people to stay out of it."

Thiemann told CBS St. Louis that “another fifteen or twenty yards down stream and they would have been in the worst part of the river.”

CBS St. Louis said neither of the two boys who were rescued required hospitalization.

Since 2006, at least nine people have drowned in the Meramec River near Ballwin.

A due to a swimming accident at Castlewood, authorities said. Last summer, in the Meramec River. Metro West Fire Department Chief Vincent Loyal said another drowning occurred at Castlewood in the summer of 2007, when a man from New York state died. Before that, five children died in July 2006 in a drowning accident near the park grounds.