A huge king cobra was caught inside a Toyota car engine in Thailand.

The 15ft-long venomous serpent slithered under the white sedan's hood to shelter from the hot weather and was discovered by the owner when the dogs alerted him in Chanthaburi province on April 8.

Footage shows the rescue volunteers peeking through the gaps to check on the serpent before carefully raising the hood.

The brave reptile handlers then grabbed the animal with their bare hands and transferred it to an open area.

They let it slither on the ground as it appeared stressed out by the heat and poured water over its head so it could drink.

One of the rescuers calmed and tamed the snake before it was finally put in a black cloth to be safely evacuated from the property.

Car owner Jirapha Bandasak, 44, said: 'I heard the dogs barking, so I went outside and saw the snake slithering in the car.

'I asked my son to open the hood, and we spotted the snake, so I called the rescue team. I believe the snake's appearance could bring me a fortune.'

The king cobra, identified as a male that weighed 16kg was later released back into the wild.

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.