Paramedics saved a hapless monitor lizard after it was stuck in an ambulance stretcher.

The team were travelling back to the hospital when they saw a 6ft-long monitor lizard along the road in Krabi, southern Thailand on November 22 evening.

They carried the reptile back with them to relocate it to another area since the highway with passing cars could be dangerous for it.

It was secured with a rope and placed it at the back of the ambulance. However, the aggressive lizard broke free and tried to find a way out of the vehicle.

The ambulance pulled over but the reptile was thrashing around so much that it became sandwiched between the bars of the gurney.

One of the paramedics pulled the bed out where the lizard had stuck itself and began to shake it off to free the reptile.

They eventually had to unfold the bed and release the lizard which quickly scrambled off to a nearby woods.

Excited bystanders watched the scene. Superstitious locals believe animal encounters are lucky and they used numbers connected with the sightings in their lottery tickets.