Neighbours gathered to watch as a massive king cobra was caught beside a home.

The locals flocked outside a hut where a 13ft (4m) serpent was spotted hiding under a pile of firewood in Yala province, Thailand, on January 9.

Footage shows onlookers and residents waiting for reptile handlers to find and secure the venomous animal.

Some helped search for the reptile, using long wooden sticks to find the venomous snake's hiding spot.

The residents and rescue team eventually found it under logs covered with a tarpaulin and was carefully dragged out.

One of the villagers said: 'The snake came from the rubber tree forest. Someone screamed, and more neighbours came to search.'

The cobra was taken to the road and measured. It weighed 2 st (14 kg).

It was placed in a sack and taken by the rescuers deeper into the forest for release.

The jumbo cobra was unhurt, along with the villagers and residents who own the hut.

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.