Wildlife Rescue Society at Ahmednagar in western India received calls from two distressed farmers on July 2.

A russell’s viper, one of India’s deadliest snakes, had fallen into their irrigation wells. A rescue team set out to save both of them.

They first drove to the Nipti village where they saw a deadly snake hanging on to a piece of floating plastic. Team member Nawaz Shaikh got down the well with the help of a harness and brought the snake up.

In the second village, Takdikhatgaon, the snake was hiding in a crack in the wall and Nawaz again climbed down and came up with the snake. Both the snakes were released at a nearby forest later.

Akash Jadhav, who led the recue effort said: “It was a race against time as we had to save both the snakes before nightfall from two different villages. I am happy our team was up to the task.”