This is the amusing moment an escaped eel slithered across a train coach amid panicked passengers in Thailand.

The brown slimy creature broke free from a shopping bag and crawled to its freedom inside the moving locomotive in Nakhon Ratchasima province on November 27.

However, the water animal was quickly caught by a woman as it passed by her feet.

Footage shows the lady using a plastic bag to pick up and wrap the eel.

Onlooker Max Puttipong said: ‘Someone boarded the train with a heavy bag of fish from the market. We only saw the eel after he left.

‘I kind of feel sorry for the eel. It almost gained freedom until the woman caught it.'

The eel was turned over to train staff at the next station.