A wild monkey attacked a tourist with its fangs bared on a mountain in Thailand.

The macaque snatched a bottle of water from a holidaymaker on a viewing deck on the island of Phuket on February 8.

But when the foreigner tried to retrieve the plastic container, the aggressive creature lunged at the vistor sparking panic among onlookers.

Footage shows the primate holding the bottle while sitting on the handrails. He jumped towards the man and seemed to be fighting for his plastic loot.

Onlooker Andrey said: 'He tried to take the bottle back because the monkey might just leave the trash there. But we were surprised at the reaction of the monkey.

‘We all backed away and forgot about the beautiful view for a moment and realised we were in the wild.'

While no one was hurt, the holidaymakers waited until the aggressive monkey left before everything returned to normal.

The Thai government has been implementing monkey-population control measures including sterilisation after the creatures continuously grew in numbers and became more aggressive by stealing food and tourist belongings.