Along with two other photos of Mr Nara holding out the snake and showing it to beachgoers, a caption read: “A Nai Harn Beach lifeguard had to catch a snake from the beach swimming area for the safety of all swimmers.”
Ms Vitanya Chuayuan, deputy head of Phuket Lifeguard Association told the Phuket News, “The snake most likely fell from a tree or came from the forest.”
“A villager walking along the beach spotted it in the water and asked lifeguards to help catch it. Khun Nara, who is very good at catching animals, caught it and released it back into the forest,” she added.
The snake was identified as a harmless Indochinese Rat Snake
“It was not a venomous snake, but it can swim very fast,” she said.
Mr Nara also recent made the news for capturing another lost reptile, a monitor lizard, on Nai Harn back in late April (see story here).
“Sometimes you get smaller snakes around the beach, but mostly in the morning. It is quite rare to see a snake in the late afternoon. And they are usually not so big,” she said.