A terrified driver slammed on the brakes when she saw a snake in the road - which then slithered up into the car's ENGINE.

Wannapa Pansua, 40, was driving home in the silver Honda when the king cobra stretched out across the street in Chanthaburi province, Thailand on November 3.

She waited for the serpent to pass but chillingly, it slithered under the car and up into the engine.

Wannapa was about to leave when an onlooker rushed to knock on her window to warn her that the snake had entered her car from underneath.

The woman was shocked and leapt out of her car before calling the animal rescuers to remove the deadly four-metre-long (13ft) reptile.

Wannapa said: "At first, I thought the snake crawled passed the road and went into the bushes nearby. But it turns out, it had climbed into my car.

"I am grateful because that lady that told me saved my life. I wouldn't have known that the snake was there and it could have came through the car's body and bit me.''

The rescue team arrived and reached into the engine to grab the cobra's head and pull it out of the dirty engine.

The rescue operation lasted for around 30 minutes before the snake was placed into a plastic container and driven away in a truck to be released later.

King cobras are a type of a cobra that can kill humans within a few hours with a single bite. They cause thousands of deaths each year across Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.