This is the shocking moment a startled elephant rammed its mahout, killing him in Thailand.

The jumbo named Plai Toto, 9, was walking next to a road with its caretaker Nark Sisan-ngam, 59, when a passing car honked its horn and spooked the large animal on January 24.

The frenzied pachyderm charged at the mahout and knocked him over, with the powerful blow denting his sternum.

Nark's friends controlled the rampaging animal as Nark was rushed to the Udon Thani Hospital. However, he later succumbed to his severe injuries at 6 am on January 25.

A nearby vendor named Sanong Panitkiat, 62, said: 'I didn't dare go to close because I was scared the elephant would hit me next. It was making loud sounds with its trunk.

'The other mahouts used their hooks to calm it down. After it calmed down, it was led to the Udon Thani Provincial Agriculture Office.'

Police Lieutenant Colonel Peera Rasee of the Muang Udon Thani Police Station said a post-mortem examination found that Nark's sternum had collapsed and he had suffered a pulmonary haemorrhage.

His body was turned over to his nephew Chatchai Priabsom, 32, who began funeral preparation,

Chatchai said: 'We brought Plai Toto in front of the Theparak Shrine to help us sell some sugarcane. But while we were there, Plai Toto was startled by the sound of a car's horn. He rammed into my uncle and killed him.

'We've already sent the elephant back home. Now we are preparing for uncle Nark's funeral. This incident has been a costly lesson for us in handling Plai Toto.'

As of 2023, there are an estimated 3,084-3,500 wild elephants in Thailand. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in Thailand at the beginning of the 20th century. The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.

There are an estimated 4,000 elephants in captivity in Thailand. They work in the tourism industry or at festivals, religious events or weddings.

Animal rights groups continue to campaign against the use of captive elephants in religious events and tourist attractions but Thai nationals defend the benighted practice as 'it is part of the country's culture'.

Dozens of people die or are injured each year when the elephants turn on them.