A ferocious king cobra trapped in a stagnant dirty reservoir was rescued.

The serpent was circling around the edge of the green pond appearing stranded when passersby found it in Ranong province, Thailand on February 16.

Footage shows the venomous 8ft-long snake gliding in the filthy water. In another clip, it was seen biting at the end of the pole as the good Samaritans pulled it to safety.

The kind local Chirapan Wansea, who managed to free the reptile, said: ‘We were scared that the cobra would be defensive and hurt us but we thought it could die from exhaustion and not eating for a long time being trapped there.

‘We did whatever we could and improvised with the available materials. It seemed like the snake understood us and bit the end of the pole so we could pull him up.'

The snake slithered away from the area upon reaching higher ground.

Researchers found that 7,000 people are treated for snake bites each year in Thailand. Suchai Suteparuk from the Division of Toxicology at Chulalongkorn University reported that 30 of those die, with cobras being the biggest killer.