Basudeb Behera, a fisherman in eastern India, got the shock of his life when he found an adult cobra trapped in his fishing net.

The over five-foot-long venomous snake had sneaked into the net he had cast overnight in the Luna river flowing by his village near Puri.

When he went to collect his catch on April 22, he was shocked to find a huge snake along with the fish. The cobra was angrily thrashing around in the water to find a way out of the net.

A terrified Basudeb called Snake Helpline which sent a volunteer, Susant Behera, to help him.

Both of them rowed to the spot in a small boat and found that the cobra was close to exhaustion. They dragged the fishing net to the shore where Susant rescued the Monocled cobra and released it in a nearby forest.

Founder of Snake Helpline, Subhendu Mallik, said: "Earlier fishermen would just kill the snake, but now they call us to remove the snake. That’s small progress."