This is the shocking moment a container truck flipped over when its careless driver leaned over to pick up his phone.

Truck driver Sombat was delivering 18 tonnes of durian to the Laem Chabang Port in Chonburi province for export to China and was texting his colleagues to inform them of his departure before dawn on May 1.

However, the driver said that as he was typing the device slipped from his hand. When he bent to retrieve it, he felt the 18-wheeler truck tipping to the side.

The 40-tonne vehicle crashed in front of a rescue team office in Chanthaburi province, damaging two pick-up trucks parked in the garage and skidding some 300 feet on the road.

The Sawangkatanyu Rescue Team, who were having a meal at the time, were jolted by the loud crash and rushed outside to find the Sombat unharmed and inspecting the wreckage.

The shaken driver said: 'I wanted to send a message to the recipient that the delivery was on the way, but my phone fell. When I picked it up, I lost control of the truck. I steered the wheel away from the office to avoid hitting the building.'

One of the rescuers said they had just returned from responding to another call when the crash happened.

No one was reported injured in the accident.

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools, cheap loans for cars, notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws as well as endemic corruption and chronic under-investment in infrastructure hamper the efforts.