A huge python sparked panic after it was found curled up in a car engine in Thailand.

The 10ft-long snake slithered inside a parked sedan while the driver visited a nearby Buddhist temple in Angthong province on February 12.

It had crawled inside the engine to hide but was discovered when the driver was about to leave and did a safety check before leaving.

The deadly creature was being chased away but it would not budge so the animal rescuers were called to the scene. Footage shows the team members luring and pulling the snake out with a pole.

Driver Sunanta Kateprathum, 33, said: 'We were about to leave and drive the car but I thought of checking the engines first for safety. We had just finished praying at the temple with my family.

'I saw the snake and tried to scare it away but it just stayed there and even went deeper into the engine. I had to call help.'

Three rescuers as well as a monk helped lure the snake out but it was defiant to stay inside until a team member decided to try and expel it using gasoline.

The smell of the substance was believed to irritate the snake's senses and so it emerged after almost an hour. It was taken into a sack and released into the wild.