A snake rescuer hauled a deadly cobra from a 40-foot bore well in northwestern India on Tuesday (July 20).

Akash Jadhav travelled to the village near Ahmednagar in Maharashtra after a farmer reported hearing hissing coming from the water source.

Jadhav quickly identified that the reptile was stuck in the deep well but initially had no way of hauling it to the surface.

He filled the bore well with water so that the cobra would float to the surface and then lifted it to safety using a snake-catching implement.

The cobra was released shortly afterwards.

“The snake had spent two weeks inside the well. It was important to rescue it without any delay,” Jadhav said.

A farmer started hearing the chilling hiss of a cobra whenever he approached his newly dug tubewell near Ahmednagar in western India.

He called Animal Rescue Society and a rescue team led by Akash Jadhav went to the village on July 20. They found that the snake was stuck inside the pitch-dark 40-feet deep tube well. The well’s mouth was barely a foot in diameter and it was impossible to find a way to reach the snake.

They decided to fill the well with water and the trick worked. As the water rose from inside the well, the snake floated up. They caught it with a hook and released it in the wild later.

Akash said: “The snake had spent two weeks inside the well. It was important to rescue it without any delay.”