This is the dramatic moment a 15-tonne gas tanker caught fire when one of its tires exploded in Thailand.

The vehicle was making an LPG delivery to Samut Prakan province when its rear brake reportedly overheated on the afternoon of March 16. The friction and heat set a rear wheel ablaze on the road.

CCTV footage shows the tanker lurching past an auto repair shop as locals screamed warnings at the driver.

Terrified residents scrambled to extinguish the flames after the truck rolled to a stop outside a grocery shop, the burning rubber sending thick black smoke into the sky.

Despite their efforts, the fire continued to grow. Fearing a catastrophic explosion, the villagers called emergency services, with firefighters rapidly dousing the inferno in 30 minutes. They continued drenching the truck to prevent a flare-up.

Truck driver Arkhom Tangsri said he had come from a fuel-filling plant in another province to deliver the LPG to one of his customers.

He said: 'I felt that I wasn't driving as smoothly. I believe the rear brake had overheated, leading to the tire explosion.

'Another driver shouted at me to inform me about the fire. I stopped driving and the villagers helped me with fire extinguishers, but it was not enough. Luckily, the fire department was just nearby. It would have been disastrous if the LPG was ignited.'

A grandmother named Arun, 73, said she had experienced a similar scenario three decades ago, when a gas truck explosion rattled Bangkok's Phetchaburi Road.

The gas tanker has been towed away from the scene.

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.