Brave volunteers plunged their hands into a toilet to fish out a giant python clogging the pipework.

Footage shows a brave rescuer dispensing with his snake pole and fearlessly dipping his ungloved fingers into the toilet water to grab the beast in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, on March 15.

However, it slid from his grasp and crawled further into the pipe. The team later had to disconnect the pipes and cut them to free the thick python wedged in a PVC tube.

They said they were called to catch the snake after the confused homeowner found it lurking in the toilet bowl. He was confused by the malfunctioning flush knob, but was shocked when the python reared its head from the U-bend.

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.