Canadian authorities have rescued two seafarers who jumped from a cruiseship in an apparent attempt to enter the country illegally.

Le Soleil cited the port of Quebec as saying the two overseas crewmen, aged 27 and 36, leapt from the 91,000-dwt Celebrity Summit (built 2001) into the St Lawrence river on Monday morning.

The first man was spotted by patrolmen at 05:40 local time.