Tourists broke up a vicious catfight between transgender escorts at a bar in Thailand.

The ladyboy prostitutes named Bella, 24, and Candy, 25, lunged at each other at a pool hall in 'Sin City' Pattaya, on February 15.

CCTV footage shows both sex workers pulling each others' hair as they allegedly fought over a male foreign tourist.

Customers stepped in to prise the violent pair apart.

Candy said she filed a report with the local police following the incident. She said the fight was sparked by jealousy as she was dating Bella's ex.

She claimed: 'On the day of the attack, I was playing pool with my boyfriend when someone suddenly threw an ice cube at me. I looked around and saw Bella there. I ignored her even though she was jeering at me and insulting me the entire time.

'Finally, she came up to me and grabbed my hair, so I was forced to fight back with violence, which is what you see in the video.

'After the incident, I went to file a complaint at Pattaya City Police Station because I was worried about my safety. Bella was in a group of transgender women who are notorious for hurting others without provocation.'

The aggressive hookers were last month reported to have ganged up on a Laoition worker named Da, 34, over a dispute about her ethnicity.

The brutal alleged attack was captured on CCTV, showing the trans women kicking Da in the head until she fell unconscious.

Pe, 28, the caretaker of a bar where Bella worked, said she has been fired over her violent behaviour.

He said: 'Bella was just a part-time employee who tends to customers. However, after the incident, the bar owner fired her because of what he considered inappropriate behaviour. We lost customers because they were afraid of Bella.'

Other bars in the area have also banned Bella and her group 'because their large builds frightened patrons'.

Residents have called on authorities to control the violent gang of ladyboys.

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1950s and 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand while fighting Communism in Vietnam. Rural families are said to have even dressed their sons as women to cash in on the gold rush.

The handful of bars in the coastal town quickly grew and it is now the world's biggest sex holiday destination, with round-the-clock prostitution and drugs - a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah rife with crime and debauchery.

Government chiefs have attempted to clean up the city but regular violence, depravity and claims of corruption continue to blight its reputation.