Brave villagers caught an enormous 17ft-long cobra at a resident's home in Thailand.

The venomous serpent sparked panic when it was found slithering in the garden of an old woman in Krabi province on February 3.

Neighbours then rushed to capture the giant snake that was about thrice their size without any special equipment.

Footage shows the men measuring the creature along the road. The old man who handled the cobra's head wore gloves while the other men who came to help hold it with bare hands.

Resident Kai Ja said: ‘The snake was found in my aunt Gee's garden. It's impossible to miss it because it was just too big.'

While it was long and massive, the snake was slow and could not escape right away when the men came to seize it.

In less than 30 minutes, they carried the cobra out of the old woman's yard and into the road.

No one was hurt including the big snake and it was later turned over to the wildlife authorities.

Kai added: ‘It was the first time we have seen a cobra that big. Maybe it lived in the trees around aunt Gee's home. She loved to grow plants around.'

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.