Drunk tourists sparked outrage when they climbed up a tsunami warning tower in southern Thailand.

The holidaymakers had been drinking at a bar and decided to clamber up the structure while walking along Ao Nang Beach in Krabi on June 21 evening.

Warning towers were installed across southern Thailand following the deadly Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami in 2004 in which at least 227,898 people died across the region.

Footage shows two male backpackers gleefully scaling the tower and shaking it as their female friends waited on the ground to cheer them on. When they saw a patrol officer approaching in a vehicle, they hurriedly climbed back down and fled.

Onlooker Amirun Leubasani, a local shopkeeper, said: 'The tourists' behaviour was inappropriate and unsafe. They could have been hurt or died.

'What they did could impact the tourism in this area negatively. It may appear as though local residents do not take care of the tourists, even when they themselves act carelessly.'

She added that she recorded the video hoping to prevent similar incidents in the future.