This is the terrifying moment a wild elephant in heat refused to be ushered back to the jungle - and charged at a policeman.

Video shows the angry jumbo named Plai Kai Daeng with a rope tied around its feet thundering towards the officer in Ranong province, Thailand, on April 29.

Twenty-two-year-old bull Plai Kai Daeng had recently injured its mahout and broke two of his ribs before breaking free from his tether.

The hormone-addled pachyderm then ran along the main road, frightening villagers and overturning cars.

It was finally cornered on April 30 in a rubber orchard, where it was subdued with tranquiliser guns. Authorities were assessing the damage it had caused.

The officer seen in the video was unhurt. He told local media that he was afraid he would be trampled.

He said: 'I've been doing this job for a while so I thought I was confident approaching elephants. But this one was more aggressive than any I have met before. Now we need to make sure he stays in the forest and doesn't go into any more villages.'

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools, cheap loans for cars, notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws as well as endemic corruption and chronic under-investment in infrastructure hamper the efforts.