(CNN) — Police in Australia said a woman was forced to fend off a deadly tiger snake in her vehicle while driving 50 miles per hour on a freeway outside Melbourne.
Police officers responded to reports of a barefoot woman trying to flag down vehicles on the side of the Monash Freeway on Saturday, Victoria Police said in a statement.
The woman told the officers that she had been traveling 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) when she felt something on her foot and looked down to find a tiger snake — one of the world’s most venomous serpents — slithering up her leg.
“Remarkably, she was able to fend the snake off her and weave through traffic before pulling over and leaping out of her car to safety,” the police said, adding that she was assessed by paramedics to ensure she hadn’t been bitten.
Australia is famous for its deadly creatures, including a wide variety of sharks, snakes and two of the world’s most poisonous spiders. In October, a solo hiker was found alive after suffering a snake bite while missing for nearly two weeks in Australia’s Snowy Mountains.
Tim Nanninga of Melbourne Snake Control, who was called to the scene to capture and relocate the snake, said the woman in Melbourne was very fortunate. “It’s a miracle how she got off the road and safely parked the car,” he told CNN affiliate 9News.
“Normally when snakes are in cars they find a really nice little hidey hole and they can stay in for days and not come out, but we were lucky the snake moved along to the back of the car,” he noted.
Experts say the recent tropical weather Melbourne has experienced is drawing snakes out of creeks and riverbeds, 9News reported.
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