A motorcycle rider was trampled to death by a wild elephant he crashed into in Thailand.

Farmer Anukoon Khampraphai, 42, was driving to a shop when he collided with the male jumbo ambling across the dark road in Trat province, on January 17 evening.

The impact startled the bull and it charged at Anukoon as he skidded some 30 feet across the road. It then gored the fallen driver with its tusks then trampled him, spilling his guts onto the pavement.

A passer-by named Ploy, 45, said she was startled by a loud crash shortly before hearing the elephant trumpeting. She rushed to the road and found Anukoon's mangled body next to his motorcycle with its engine still running.

Police said the elephant attack was reported at 7pm. They arrived at the bloody scene littered with debris, palm leaves, and tree branches from when the elephant had been foraging for food.

Anukoon's body was taken to the local hospital for a post-mortem exam.

Chaowalit Khanthapthim, head of the local elephant monitoring team, said: 'We have been monitoring a herd of more than 40 elephants roaming near the border with Cambodia. We believe this bull had broken away to search for food.

'We found it around a kilometre away from the scene. It was still in an agitated state. Officers are trying to drive the herd away from residential areas.'

Authorities warned residents to be careful of the elephants when going out at night.

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.

Though the creatures are usually harmless, there have been several fatal elephant attacks in recent weeks.

On January 3, Spanish tourist Blanca Ojanguren Garcia, 22, was struck by an elephant she was bathing at the Koh Yao Elephant Care centre in Phang Nga province. She reportedly slipped and accidentally grabbed its trunk, causing the animal to smash her against the rocky pool.

On December 15, farmer Thodsaporn Phiananukulbut, 45, was fishing at a canal when a bull emerged from the nearby sugarcane field and trampled him to death in Prachinburi province.