5-year-old boy reportedly dragged into pool by python, rescued by grandfather

NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia (WKRC) - A little boy in Australia is safe after a harrowing incident thanks to his family -- namely his heroic grandfather.

Ben Blake says, on Wednesday, his five-year-old son, Beau, was swimming with his brother in the family's in ground pool.

Beau apparently got out of the water for a moment and was walking along the edge, next to the garden, when it happened.

"Just out of the blue, a probably three-meter python decided to wrap his mouth around his ankle, and they both rolled into the pool, and the python wrapped himself around him," said Blake.

The next thing he knew, he says, the snake emerged completely wrapped around Beau's leg "from the bite right up to around his knee joint."

That's when Blake's 76-year-old father reportedly dove in to rescue his grandson, grabbing the boy -- with the snake still wrapped around him.

According to Blake, his father handed Beau to him. He says he was able to pry the snake off of his son after about 15-20 seconds, but that "it was somewhat of an ordeal."

"I just grabbed it as close as I could to the head, squeezed and pulled," Blake said.

He says this type of snake attack is uncommon. He believes this particular python was, for whatever reason, "sitting there waiting for something to come along...and Beau was it."

The family did release the snake, but, according to Blake, it didn't slither off, it "went back to the scene of the crime."

Blake says the attack happened just days before Beau's sixth birthday, but that the little boy was checked out at the hospital and is doing alright.

"He's an absolute trooper," said Blake. "Once we cleaned up the blood and told him he wasn't going to die because it wasn't a poisonous snake, he was pretty good."

He does say the incident was a close call, and that Beau is a very lucky kid.

"If I wasn't that close, he would have been underwater and who knows what would have happened," Blake said. "We used to check for spiders around the pool, but now we'll look for snakes."