An elderly couple were shocked when a king cobra slithered into their dining room and hissed at them.

Kit Jinpracha, 78, and his wife Lap, 78, were having dinner when they noticed the reptile on the wooden floorboards in Trang, southern Thailand on Monday (January 20) evening.

The grandmother prayed and asked the snake - which she thought could be an ancestor reincarnated - to leave but then the serpent turned to and hissed at her.

Rescue workers arrived and spent 15 minutes capturing the huge 16ft long dark grey king cobra.

The grandmother said she had never seen such a big snake before and was terrified when it hissed at her.

She said: "This king cobra was the biggest snake I have ever seen and in the traditional belief, a king cobra that visits is an ancestor reincarnated, so when I saw it I started to pray and asked it to leave.

"However, instead of leaving the snake showed its ferocity which scared me so much that I had to contact the rescue team for help."

The snake catcher, who was pictured with the serpent wrapped round his neck, said they have encountered large numbers of snakes recently because drought has drawn a lot of them out of the forest in search of water and food.

He said: "King cobras normally live in damp areas, but since the drought has caused lots of swamps to dry up, they have entered houses looking for food."

An elderly couple were shocked when a king cobra slithered into their dining room and hissed at them.

Kit Jinpracha, 78, and his wife Lap, 78, were having dinner when they noticed the reptile on the wooden floorboards in Trang, southern Thailand on Monday (20/01) evening.

The grandmother prayed and asked the snake - which she thought could be an ancestor reincarnated - to leave but then the serpent turned to and hissed at her.

Rescue workers arrived and spent 15 minutes capturing the huge 16ft long dark grey king cobra.

The grandmother said she had never seen such a big snake before and was terrified when it hissed at her.

She said: "This king cobra was the biggest snake I have ever seen and in the traditional belief, a king cobra that visits is an ancestor reincarnated, so when I saw it I started to pray and asked it to leave.

"However, instead of leaving the snake showed its ferocity which scared me so much that I had to contact the rescue team for help."

The snake catcher, who was pictured with the serpent wrapped round his neck, said they have encountered large numbers of snakes recently because drought has drawn a lot of them out of the forest in search of water and food.

He said: "King cobras normally live in damp areas, but since the drought has caused lots of swamps to dry up, they have entered houses looking for food."