A woman whose car plunged into a Northwest Miami-Dade canal Thursday morning was saved by two women she works with.

Irma Alvarez, 45, was rescued from her sinking 2000 Honda Civic after it went into a canal at Northwest 41st Street and 82nd Avenue. Her car had collided with a Toyota Rav 4 driven by Christina Rodriguez, 50.

Alvarez, who could not open her car door, rolled the window down and tried to get out.

As her car began to sink in the 20-foot-deep canal, she began to scream, ``Help me! Help me!''

Reached by telephone, Maria Paredes said she was nearing work at Boston Scientific when she saw her co-worker Wendy Escobar stopped at the side of the road. When she got out of the car, she saw Alvarez, who also works at Boston Scientific, screaming for help.

``I took off my sweater and jumped into the water,'' she said, noting that she swam about 10 to 15 feet and had Alvarez rest on her back in order to get her to shore.

When she got near the shore, Paredes said she told Alvarez that she could stand up because the water wasn't that deep -- but Alvarez was ``too nervous.''

That's when Escobar helped both women get out of the water with a tree branch.

``Our boss told us we could go home for the day,'' Paredes said.

El Nuevo Herald reporter Juan Tamayo contributed to this story.