- The enormous snake is kept as a pet at the boy’s family home in Vietnam
- The family let the python into their yard to play in the floodwater
- The boy then jumped on the reptile and straddled it while giggling adorably
Bizarre footage shows a three-year-old boy riding a giant python during a flood.
The enormous 20ft long snake is kept as a pet at the family’s home in Thanh Hoa province, northern Vietnam.
Horrific floods swamped the country this week, killing at least 54 people and submerging hundreds of thousands of homes.
Bizarre footage shows a three-year-old boy riding a giant python during a flood
But the youngster, named Truong, could not contain his excitement as his parents took the chance to let the snake play in the ankle-deep water filling their flooded yard in the Ha Long commune, in Ha Trung district.
He immediately leapt on to the deadly creature and straddled its back – giggling adorably as he ‘giddies up’ like a horse on the 176lb (80kg) beast.
Pictures of the incident went viral with many claiming they were edited – but the lad’s family replied with a video proving it was real.
The boy’s aunt, An Nguyen, said: ‘He is three years old and the python is 80kg.
‘The family have had the python for four years as a pet and it is very gentle.
‘It was a rainy day and the water flooded to the edge of the yard. So they put the python in there to play and relax.’
The youngster, named Truong, could not contain his excitement as his parents took the chance to let the snake play in the garden
The floods lashing Vietnam this week are the worst in the country’s history.
The heavy rain in the central and northern regions has disrupted travel in some areas, limiting the rescue attempts for the missing.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed, while vast amounts of livestock have also been killed.