An office meeting at a bank in China was interrupted by a python which fell through the ceiling all of a sudden.

Staff fled for their lives after the large snake nearly hit one of the female workers, surveillance footage shows, reports the Chinanews.com.

The shocking incident occurred when the bank clerks were having a regular meeting in the morning.

Chinanews.com reported that the footage was filmed at a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Nanning, Guangxi Province.

The surveillance footage, which is circulating on Chinese social media, shows the staff standing in two rows.

A snake suddenly dropped from above as the unsuspecting team listened to their supervisor speaking. 

The workers escaped the room as quickly as possible, leaving the animal to slither on the wooden floor.

Police officers arrived at the bank with workers from the Nanning Wild Animals and Plants Protection Station, who caught the snake. 

Experts said that the python weighed about five kilograms (11 pounds) and was a first-class protected animal in China. 

The snake has been handed over to the local wildlife rescue and protection centre.

No one was injured during the incident, which took place before the bank opened.

The report, however, did not explain how the snake had got into the bank. The branch opens as usual.

Nanning Evening News reported that another python also fell through the bank’s ceiling around this time last year.