Snake catchers were called to a warehouse near Pune, Maharashtra, after workers spotted a large snake slithering around.

Once the catchers arrived they realised the snake was in fact an aggressive deadly cobra.

Saidas Kusal managed to coax the serpent into a bag and it was later released into a safer area.

Kusal said: "It was sheer luck that the workers failed to catch the ‘harmless’ snake. It was very aggressive and someone could have been easily bitten.”

A few workers spotted a snake at a warehouse near Pune in western India on August 14.

Going by the impressive length of the nearly six-feet-long snake they thought it was a harmless rat snake and tried to catch it. The snake managed to escape and the manager called rescuer Saidas Kusal just to play it safe.

Saidas and team patiently combed the warehouse for an hour and found the snake, which turned out to be an aggressive and fully grown cobra. They caught it and later released it in the wild.

Saidas said: “It was sheer luck that the workers failed to catch the ‘harmless’ snake. It was very aggressive and someone could have been easily bitten.”