While hunting a rat snake, this cobra and its prey fell into a 75-foot-deep irrigation well near Ahmednagar in western India.

Wildlife Rescue Society was called by a local villager and a team led by Akash Jadhav arrived at the village to rescue both reptiles.

Footage from July 18, shows team member Nawaz Shaikh being lowered down the well using a harness.

He aimed to catch the cobra first, but the aggressive, deadly snake eluded his pole successfully. Changing his tactic, Shaikh grabbed the rat snake, which swam towards him and sent it up the well in a bag.

After a few attempts, Shaikh managed to catch the cobra by its tail and transfer the cobra into the snake bag.

As he held the cobra with one hand and the rescue bag with the other, Shaikh was forced to drop his pole, leaving him defenceless for several minutes as the angry cobra swiped and wriggled.

Luckily, Shaikh was unharmed, and both the reptiles were later released at a nearby forest.

Team leader, Akash said: “There were heart-stopping moments when the cobra got too close to Nawaz. It took us two hours to rescue both the snakes.”

A spectacled cobra tried to hunt a rat snake, its favorite prey, and in the chase both the reptiles fell into a 75-foot-deep irrigation well near Ahmednagar in western India.

A villager called Wildlife Rescue Society and a team led by Akash Jadhav arrived at the village to rescue the snakes.

Team member Nawaz Shaikh went down the well using a harness and thought it would be safer to catch the cobra first. But the deadly snake turned out to be very aggressive and managed to elude his pole successfully.

Changing his tactic, Nawaz grabbed the rat snake, which swam towards him to keep a safe distance from the cobra and sent it up in a bag.

He then drew the cobra towards him after a few attempts and managed to catch it by its tail. But dangling mid air, it became a risky venture to transfer the cobra to the snake bag.

As he held the cobra with one hand and the bag with the other, Nawaz had to let go the snake stick with which he could keep the snake at a distance. The angry cobra kept wriggling and swiping at Nawaz, who was left defenceless for several minutes.

But luckily, Nawaz managed to bag the snake and climb up without any incident. Both the reptiles were released at a nearby forest later.

Akash said: “There were heartstopping moments when the cobra got too close to Nawaz. It took us two hours to rescue both the snakes.”