Terrified tourists fled when a mass brawl erupted between gangs in a shopping mall in Thailand.

Krista Paasi from Finland was shopping with her nine-year-old daughter when panic erupted and onlookers began running in all directions in Bangkok, Thailand.

Footage shows shoppers and storekeepers rushing out of the food court as Krista and her child were caught in the middle of the chaos on Saturday, March 22.

Krista pulled the little girl to hide behind the counter of a dessert shop as a group of lads ran past, shouting and shoving each other at the MBK mall.

The Finnish mum then called her husband while the fighting ensued 40ft (12m) away from them.

She said: 'I don't know what is happening, but we are in a crazy situation at MBK. Here is a crazy fight going on.

'It is full of police, we are hiding here. I think someone just died.

'I don't know how we can get out from here. We are hiding. The situation is really bad right now.'

Krista added she and her family live in Surat Thani province's Koh Tao Island and only went to the capital city to renew their passports.

She said: 'After coming down from the seventh floor to the sixth floor on an escalator, I noticed something strange happening.

'People were suddenly running towards us from the food court and a large group of young boys were running towards us from another direction.

'I felt confused and didn't know what was going on or what to do, and what was happening.'

Krista added some of the lads pulled knives and grabbed metal food stands to use as weapons.

She said: 'I then realised they were fighting with another group of boys, and the situation quickly escalated. It got intense, and I decided the best thing to do was to hide and stop filming.

'We ducked behind the counter of the nearest food stall, staying out of sight with the two staff members.'

The clash and sounds of fighting lasted for 15 minutes before Krista claimed to have heard a gunshot.

She added: 'The lady from the food shop peeked out to check if it was safe to leave. At one point, she saw a man lying on the floor and thought he was dead. Later, we learned that four men had been seriously wounded by knives, but fortunately, there were no fatalities.

'After a tense 15 minutes, things seemed to calm down enough for us to run toward the parking area.'

The Finnish mum and daughter rushed out of the mall through the emergency exit and headed to their hotel.

Krista said: 'After living in Thailand for over 20 years, I've never felt threatened like that before.'

Pathumwan Police Station Superintendent Police Colonel Sirichat Chanphromma said they were able to catch four lads from both gangs.

He said: 'We are investigating and expanding the results to consider taking legal action to determine what offences have been committed and whether they are juveniles.'