A wild elephant smashed a pickup truck's windscreen in Thailand.

The stressed jumbo named Plai Dur broke free from a wildlife enclosure sparking panic in Nakhon Ratchasima province on October 25 afternoon.

To protect passing drivers, a brave park ranger, Suttiphon Sinkha, tried to block Plai Dur's path using his pickup truck.

However, the incensed bull rammed its 2ft long tusks into the vehicle piercing its glass windscreen.

Suttiphon luckily managed to usher the male elephant away before it cause further harm.

Chaiya Huayhongthong, chief of the Khao Yai National Park, said: 'Plai Dur has been tethered in an enclosure ever since he killed a tourist here three years ago.

'His name means naughty boy. He is very aggressive.'

The national park has urged tourists to keep a distance of at least 50 metres should they encounter a wild elephant.

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild where they wander freely among protected forests. However, there is often conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages.

A similar number of elephants are kept in captivity where they work in the tourist industry or get hired out for religious festivals and weddings. A small number still work in commercial logging.