Brave women helped push a monitor lizard that was stranded in the middle of a road.

Footage shows the residents, Ratchanee Kaekprathan, 34, and her friend ushering the reptile with a stick to keep it away from speeding cars in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, on February 14.

Ratchanee and the other woman screamed when it jerked but did not stop rescuing it as passing vehicles could run over it.

Their neighbour Peter said: 'We all had to come and assist eventually because the monitor lizard was trying to cross the road. It was very dangerous.'

Asian water monitor lizards normally live in canals, swamps, sewers and ponds in cities in Thailand. They feed on fish, snakes, frogs and scraps of food left by humans.

The reptiles are aggressive when threatened and have a mildly venomous bite which sometimes carries harmful bacteria. The Godzilla-like reptiles are also a protected species in the country so their population thrives.