A little girl opened the back door of their home to find a huge cobra slithering over the steps.

CCTV footage shows the youngster walking out and almost stepping on the venomous reptile with its tail brushing on her feet in Saraburi province, Thailand.

The frantic child fled back into the house when she spotted the animal while it slithered away into the garden.

Her father and another family member returned to the laundry area to search for the cobra, but it had already escaped.

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.