A rescue team were called to a farmer's pond in Pune, western India, to retrieve a rat snake that had become stranded in the water.

Saidas Kusal and his team arrived and saw the snake swimming around in the pool.

Sensing trouble, the snake stayed in the middle of the pond forcing them to jump into the water and go after it. The rat snake, though non-venomous, turned out to be a terrific swimmer and kept its distance from them.

Kusal said:” Though we closed in on it several times it managed to slip away. It even bit me with its sharp fangs once in a desperate bid to get away.”

After nearly two hours, the rescue team caught the snake and brought it to the surface. It was released in the wild later.

A farmer saw a rat snake in his huge pond and called rescuer Saidas Kusal to rescue it.

Saidas and his team went to the village near Pune in western India and waited for the snake to come to the edge of the pond where they could catch it easily.

But, sensing trouble, the snake stayed in the middle of the pond forcing them to jump into the water and go after it. The rat snake, though non venomous, turned out to be a terrific swimmer, and kept distance from them.

Saidas said:” Though we closed in on it several times it managed to slip away. It even bit me with its sharp fangs once in a desperate bid to get away.”

After nearly two hours of the Tom and Jerry chase, the rescue team caught the snake and brought it to the surface. It was released in the wild later.

Saidas filmed the rescue in his GoPro camera.