A needlefish leapt out of the water and pierced a beachgoer's THROAT in a freak attack after it was startled by a rubber ring.

Noppadol Sringam, 35, was splashing in the water with his son when he tossed the inflatable device around on the surface of the water at the Ao Tan Koo beach in Trat province, Thailand, on Thursday afternoon.

Bizarrely, the water toy startled a school of fish that were swimming close to the surface and one of them jumped out of the sea straight at Noppadol, in what is believed to have been a form of defence as the fish felt threatened.

Noppadol felt a stabbing pain on his neck before seeing blood mixing with seawater as he realised that one of the needlefish had stabbed him in the throat with its razor-sharp mouth. The father and his young son, Nong, 10, called for help while stumbling back onto the sand.

Sai Siritip, a restaurant owner who was one of the first to have seen the injured man, said: 'Everyone panicked and swam off the water when they saw the bloodied man.

'He came running towards this way to ask for help. There were about 20 tourists that day including the injured man and his family.'

Shocked onlookers called the rescuers to take the man to the hospital as the fish was still stuck in his throat.

They wrapped tissue around the fish to prevent it from wiggling and delivered the injured man to Laem Ngop Hospital.

Laem Ngop Hospital doctors attempted to remove the live fish from his throat but were not able to. Due to Noppadol's unusual injury, he was delivered to the state hospital for an operation.

Miraculously, the deadly creature's 10cm long beak had avoided hitting any major arteries. The tourist is still recovering at the hospital after the surgery but is now in stable condition. The fish died as it was kept out of the water for too long.

District council chief Suchat Chitmungmanotum said: 'The needlefish normally swim near the water surface and are not violent. When startled, they jumped to the surface. The tourist may have caused panic in the sea creature, making it jump and pierce his throat.'

Sai, the restaurant owner, added that the fish was not a full-grown fish but a juvenile so the man, despite being extremely unlucky, was still fortunate.

She said: 'He was unlucky but fortunately, it’s not a full-grown fish. Otherwise, his injury might have been more serious.

'The restaurant had been open for four decades. I have never seen an incident such as this happening in real life before. What extreme bad luck.'

It wasn't the first time that such creatures caused injuries to swimmers in the province. In 2019, a needlefish killed a 22-year-old Thai navy cadet while on training in the same province.