Dramatic footage shows police racing from the airport through heavy traffic to deliver a beating heart for a transplant - arriving with minutes to spare.

Traffic officers in Bangkok received a request to transport the vital organ from the Don Mueang International Airport to the Siriraj Hospital some 16 miles away in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 27.

The donor heart was extracted in Phitsanulok province, around 235 miles north of the capital city, at 3:50 pm, and needed to be at the state hospital by 8 pm to remain viable for surgery.

However, the plane was delayed due to air traffic conditions. It arrived in Bangkok at 7:22 pm.

With only 38 minutes left, Police Colonel Jirakrit Jarunapat, deputy commander of the Traffic Police Division, arranged for a motorcycle convoy for the delivery, as an ambulance would take about an hour to reach the hospital.

A patient was on the hospital bed and surgeons were waiting for the live beating heart to arrive so they could start work.

Footage from local media reporter Ejan shows how the officers wove through traffic, racing across the highway to make the life-saving delivery.

They arrived at the Siriraj Hospital at 7:50 pm, and handed the disembodied heart to doctors with just eight minutes to spare.

Police Lieutenant General Nitithorn Chintakanon, Commander of the Royal Thai Police Commissioner's Office, said: 'Delivering the heart was an important mission because the heart donor and their family have agreed to donate their heart to pass on new opportunities to someone in need.

'The time from the donor's heart surgery until the transplant to the recipient is only four hours, so it is a race against time. The most important thing was the full cooperation of the road users, who made way for emergency vehicles when they heard the sirens.'

Surgeons said the transplant was a success, and the heart was 'greatly compatible' with its recipient, who is recovering in hospital.

The delivery marked the 100th heart that the Royal Thai Police has assisted in delivering for transplants.