A monk who was about to use the toilet was frozen in terror when a huge king cobra slithered out of the bowl.

Phra Supachai, 65, went to squat over the outdoor hole before noticing the deadly reptile rearing its head at the Ban Ngew Mai Temple in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand on April 10.

Animal control officers arrived with a snake-catching tool made from a pole and a noose to catch the venomous snake and pull it up from the toilet's gooseneck pipe.

The cobra was too thick and large so they had to beat the opening with a hammer and widen the hole to make more room to drag it out. Despite their efforts, the gigantic reptile still eluded capture. Out of options, the rescuers waited instead for the snake to come up on its own before finally catching it with the noose.

They measured the cobra and found that it was more than three metres in length.

The monk who encountered it said: 'I was going to the bathroom to take care of my business. The lights were turned on and I was about to sit down, but I was shocked when the huge king cobra popped its head out of the opening.

'I hurried out of the bathroom to tell the other monks and ask the rescuers to come and catch the snake.'

Phra Supachai added that the cobra may have slipped into the temple's septic tank from the surroundingforests and crept up into the toilet while trying to find a way out.

The rescue team later released the cobra into the wild away from the temple.