This is the scary moment tourists ran away from a herd of wild elephants charging at them on road in Thailand.

The group of holidaymakers were sightseeing on a forest road when five jumbos, four adults and a baby, emerged from the woods in Nakhon Ratchasima province on December 9.

However, the creatures sparked panic as they seemed to head towards the crowd who had been taking snaps with their phones and cameras.

Dsshcam footage shows the frantic tourists fleeing the spot as the elephants appeared to chase them away.

One of the tourists who owned the car dash cam said: ‘They came out of nowhere. We were so scared. We were thankful for the park officers who were there and controlled the situation.'

As the herd approached the group of tourists, Khao Yai National Park officers whose truck was parked about 15ft away from the sightseers blocked the road.

Their truck kept the creatures from walking further and soon they backed off and returned back to the woods.

No one was hurt nor damaged from the incident.

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild where they wander freely among protected forests. Male Asian elephants, unlike African elephants, roam alone once they are over 10 years old while females remain with the herd.

There is sometimes conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages so wildlife rangers are tasked with monitoring their movements.

A similar number of elephants in the country are also kept in captivity to work in the tourist industry or at religious festivals and weddings. A small number still work in commercial logging.