This is the terrifying moment a huge python emerged in clothes hanging at a market stall in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Shoppers noticed the massive serpent coiled on racks and alerted the stall owner, who began prodding at the beast with a pole on May 11.

Onlooker Chan Tou said: 'I was shopping when this happened. I went to buy a new dress, not a snake.'

The snake was eventually dragged away before police arrived to subdue it and take to an animal shelter.

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.