This is the scary moment a huge monitor lizard that had crawled into a car's engine was caught in Thailand.

The 4ft-long reptile was discovered inside the engine compartment of a vehicle parked in the Mueang district in Ang Thong province on January 12.

Car owner Malee Kabutdee, 42, went to her usual parking space to get her car ready for driving. However, when she started it up, she heard a strange noise coming from the engine. She lifted the car's bonnet and found the monitor lizard clinging to the machine.

Shocked Malee called specialists for help after failing to get rid of the animal herself.

The rescuers arrived and tried to pull the monitor lizard out through various means. Using a stick to prod the creature, they attempted to drag it out from above, from the bottom, and from the front bumper, but the stubborn reptile refused to loosen its grip.

After about an hour, the monitor lizard was finally pulled out by its tail from the bottom of the engine compartment. The operation reportedly took so long because the team were trying to avoid damaging the engine and being bitten by the animal.

Malee said: 'Maybe the lizard came to me as a sign of good luck. It refused to leave the car due to its tight grip. I'm thinking of using my car's plate number for a lottery ticket.'

The rescuers have released the monitor lizard back into the wild, away from people's homes.

Asian water monitor lizards live in canals and ponds in large cities in Thailand where they feed on fish, snakes, frogs and scraps of food left by humans.

They are aggressive when threatened and have a mildly venomous bite which sometimes carries harmful bacteria.