Stuck in the grip of the snake • Dramatic rescue • “Continued to squeeze harder”
For several hours, a 64-year-old woman fought a python.
The snake attacked the woman while she was doing the dishes and wrapped itself around the woman’s body.
– I tried to get it to let go, but it just kept squeezing harder, says the woman.
After a dramatic rescue effort, she could be taken to hospital.
The unpleasant incident occurred in the Thai city of Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok. The 64-year-old woman, named Arrom Arunro, was going to wash the dishes outside behind the room she rents, when the snake suddenly attacked her.
The four meter long python had been hiding in some damp overgrown bushes nearby.
– As soon as I sat down to wash the dishes, the snake bit me. At first I thought it was a cockroach, but then I saw it was a snake and it started to creep me out. I fought hard with it for quite a while, she told the police after the incident.
The python – which weighs 20 kilos – bit Arrom Arunro on the thigh and then wrapped itself around her body.
Continue to squeeze harder
– First I grabbed the head and tried to get it to let go, but it didn’t.
It just kept squeezing harder, she said.
For two hours she screamed for help, before neighbors heard her screams and alerted the police.
Emergency services and police broke into her home. It took half an hour before they could free the woman from the snake’s grip.
The body began to turn pale
– We kicked open the door and saw the woman being contracted by the snake on the floor. It must have been going on for quite some time because her body had already started turning pale, said one of the police officers who participated in the rescue operation.
The woman survived without serious injuries. The snake then disappeared.
The images come from a body camera worn by one of the officers during the rescue operation.
Snakebites are a serious problem in Thailand. In 2023, 26 deaths were reported as a result of snakebite, according to the country’s authorities.