An exhausted woman was freed from the coils of a large snake that had been wrapped around her body for almost two hours, at her house in Samut Prakan on Tuesday night.
Her weak pleas for help were heard by a passing neighbour, who called for assistance about 10pm.
Samut Prakan Poh Tek Tung Foundation rescuers rushed to the house, in soi Suk Sawat 84 in tambon Khlong Bang Pla Kot of Phra Samut Chedi district.
On arrival, the woman could still be heard pleading faintly for help. The house was in darkness.
The team had to break into the locked house. At the back, they found 64-year-old Arrom Arunroj with a 4-metre-long python, weighing at least 20 kilogrammes, wrapped around her body. The woman was alive but exhausted, her face pale.
It took rescuers about 30 minutes to free her from the python's clutches. She was given first aid and then rushed to a nearby hospital. Rescuers said she had several bite wounds. Pythons are not venomous but their bite can cause infection.
Ms Arrom said she was a maid at a children’s hospital in Bangkok and had been living alone in the house since her husband died last year.
She had arrived home from work and finished her dinner about 8.30pm. She went to do the dishes at the back of the house, which is next to a reed forest.
While squatting, washing the plates, she felt a sharp pain on her right thigh, looked down and saw a huge snake attacking her. She grabbed its head and tried to pull it off her, but could not fight its strength. She rolled to the ground, with the snake wrapping its coils around her body.
She had been trying to free herself and finally just fighting for breath and calling for help for about two hours before a passing neighbour heard her and phoned for help.
Ms Arrom was recovering in hospital from her ordeal.