Police are searching for a French tourist who went missing four days ago while looking for his lost drone in a Thai forest.

Cyril Gollino, 30, told hotel staff we has going trekking through the wilderness in the Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani province on November 12.

However, he was last seen later that evening asking a caretaker at a remote Buddhist temple for help finding his expensive flying machine.

Locals refused to venture into the woodland 'because it was too dark' and they were afraid of wild animals or getting lost among the trees.

Cyril has not been seen since. Hotel staff called the police when he failed to check out on November 14 - his last booked day at the lodging.

Resident Somsak said: 'The tourist came to me and offered to pay me 2,000 Baht to help him find his drone. It was dark and I didn't want to go into the forest because it's so dangerous, so I did not accept his offer.

'He used Google translate on his phone to communicate with me but I didn't understand everything.

'When he left he walked away into the forest. I thought it was crazy to do that, because it was dark already and there are lots of snakes in there.'

Hotels employees said that when they checked Cyril's room, they found that his belongings were still inside. They believe he had only brought took his phone and a pair of sunglasses along with the drone when he wandered into the woods.

A joint search party of police and park rangers were sent to find Cyril, but no evidence pointing to his whereabouts has so far turned up.

Suchao Tumosik of the Phanom police station said: 'We are checking the CCTV cameras around the neighbourhood to determine which routes the missing person took.'

Around 100 volunteers and villagers have joined the search, scouring the Mount Panthurat area as they feared the French man had fallen off rocky cliffs along the mountain.

Surat Thani provincial government chief Vishwut Jinto said: 'We have mobilised the search parties to search for the tourist, who is believed to be lost in the forests of the Khao Sok National Park.

'We advise tourists not to go hiking alone. There should be a guide or park ranger to help you navigate.'