Bhubaneswar, July 23 - The Orissa assembly was forced to suspend its proceedings Thursday after a stray snake was spotted by the staff inside the house. But the reptile, believed to be a king cobra, couldn't be found despite hours of search by security personnel, officials and a sniffer dog.

The snake was noticed around 8 a.m. near the house reporters' table by some of the assembly staff during routine cleaning. The reptile sneaked into the table of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and disappeared, officials said.

Snake catchers, security personnel, forest officials and a sniffer dog were pressed into service to locate the reptile. As it could not be found, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat initially adjourned the house for one hour to facilitate the search operation.