This is the terrifying moment a wild elephant chased children outside their home in Thailand.

The youngsters were playing in the front yard when the one-tusked jumbo named Plai emerged from the forest and came thundering towards them in Surat Thani province on May 12.

CCTV footage shows the kids scrambling to run indoors as Plai approached. The elephant was seen roaming the property before returning to the woods.

Homeowner Sompong Buamuang said: 'That day, the children were sitting and playing on their phones when someone suddenly shouted, 'help, an elephant is coming'.

'When I turned to look, a large elephant was stomping up to the front of the house. Everyone ran away in different directions.'

No one was harmed in the incident.

Thailand has up to 3,500 elephants in the wild. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in the country 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.