Alekha Pradhan and Sarat Nayak work as construction workers for a company at Bhubaneswar in eastern India.

On July 13, they went to sleep on a makeshift bed at the construction site itself after finishing the day’s work.

At 2:30 a.m. Sarat Nayak felt something crawling on his body. He pushed it with a hand and the cold object reacted with a sharp hiss. He sprung up from his bed and woke up his colleague Alekha.

Both the men flashed their mobile phones and saw a four-feet-long spectacled cobra staring at them.

Then hurried out and put bricks all around the mosquito net to prevent the cobra from coming out.

After they called Snake Helpline for help, a volunteer Arun Baral went and rescued the cobra, which was later released in the wild.

Subhendu Mallik, founder of Snake Helpline said: “In the rainy season, snakes come out as their burrows are filled with water. We have advised them to sleep on a cot.”

“The two men were lucky to escape without a bite,” he added.