Arom Arunroj, 64, from Samut Prakan, near Bangkok in Thailand, managed to survive the snake’s grasp for two hours before a neighbour came to her rescue and contacted the police
A massive python attacked a woman while she was doing the dishes before coiling around her in Thailand.
Arom Arunroj, 64, miraculously survived the 44lb python’s grip as it repeatedly bit her after entering her home in Samut Prakan, a province south of Bangkok. She survived the two-hour ordeal before rescuers could burst into her home and free her from its grasp.
She told Thai media how she was doing the washing-up at around 8.30pm when she felt something biting her leg. When she looked down, she realised it was a snake.
After trying to fight the creature off and crying out for help, she realised she was on her own as no one came to help her. She grabbed the python by the head, hoping it would let her go, “but it didn’t, instead it kept strangling me”, she explained. At around 10pm, a neighbour finally heard her desperate calls and contacted the police, according to Thai media.
Local police Sergeant Major Anusorn Wongmali Anusorn recalled kicking in the door and hearing a voice inside. He said it was likely that the python had been coiled around her for a while “because her skin was pale”.
He added: “It was a python, a big one. I saw a bite mark on her leg but [knew] there might be some elsewhere too.” He said that when he was close enough, he tried to help by prodding the snake.
In footage filmed by first responders, the python was around 13ft long and weighed more than 44lb. It can clearly be seen wrapped around Arom’s waist.
Police contacted the She Poh Tek Tung rescue organisation to remove the snake and Arom was rushed to hospital for treatment. Though the python’s bites aren’t venomous – as they kill their prey through suffocation – they can cause infections if left untreated.
In 2023, around 12,000 people were treated for venomous animal bites in the country, with 26 of them dying as a result of snake bites. In the same area last month, a man was sitting on his toilet when a python bit him on the testicles. He managed to beat it with his fist and a toilet brush to prevent it slithering further into his home. After a neighbour raised the alarm, he was prescribed antibiotics and reported being tratumatised by the incident.
