A fisherman was shocked after catching a 13ft-long python in his net.

Kriangsak Aorrachon, 49, said the snake may have been hunting for fish in the same area where he was angling. However, the python took his bait and was stuck in the fishing net.

The fisherman pulled in the unexpected catch from a pond on a rubber tree farm in Trang, southern Thailand, on October 13.

At first, he thought he had caught a giant fish because the fishing net was unusually heavy and shook aggressively.

He was surprised after finding a snake inside and called the animal rescuers to help him remove the huge snake from his fishing net as he was afraid of doing it alone.

The snake appeared hungry and aggressive so he feared that the wild animal could attack him if he let it out.

He said: "I was supposed to catch some eel and fish from the pond to eat for dinner, but I caught a snake instead. I was very afraid it would hurt me so I called the rescuers for help."

Professional reptile handlers helped the farmer pull the net from the pond so they could properly transfer his catch into a sack.

It took almost half an hour before they were able to untangle the snake from the net.

The team took the reptile with them to release later into the wild after the farmer and his family thanked them.