Brave villagers lured a deadly 10ft-long king cobra away from a road using a bamboo stick in Thailand.

The men found the venomous serpent slithering along the concrete path after terrified riders called for help in Satun province on January 6.

They went to the area and using a bamboo pole with rope at the end, they dragged the creature away.

Footage shows the king cobra being caught on the DIY tool. It did not resist and let the locals pull it off the road.

Onlooker Pantiwa Kosol said: ‘It was so big and one of the largest I have seen around here. We were relieved that some of our neighbours knew what to do.'

The snake was later released back into the wild unhurt.

Researchers found that 7,000 people are treated for snake bites each year in Thailand. Suchai Suteparuk from the Division of Toxicology at Chulalongkorn University reported that 30 of those die, with cobras being the biggest killer.