A driver came face-to-face with a wild elephant on a road in Thailand.

Tanomklin Kanjana, 25, was travelling with her boyfriend when they spotted a wild elephant standing next to the road in Chachoengsao province on February 28.

Terrified Tanomklin asked her boyfriend to slow down the car and leave some room for the jumbo to walk. She prayed for safety as the elephant walked by their vehicle.

But just as they managed to leave the elephant’s sight safely, a pickup truck sped up their vehicle and passed them.

Tanomklin said: 'The pickup drove so fast. I was so scared the elephant may hurt us, I was going to have a heart attack.'

The woman and her boyfriend calmly drove away from the animal until they were both far off as the jumbo stared in their direction.

No one was reported hurt in the incident and the motorists were able to pass through safely.

Elephants are the national animal of Thailand, where killing them carries a maximum prison term of up to three years and a fine of 1,000 baht (25GBP).

An estimated 2,000 elephants are living in the wild and a similar number in captivity. In the wild, they roam through the deep jungle and in the country’s protected national parks, but often encounter humans on roads and in villages.