A drunk Indian tourist sparked chaos when he clambered onto the roof of a taxi in Pattaya.

The holidaymaker reportedly flagged down an oncoming cab before climbing on top of it to take a nap next to the beach on Thursday morning.

Police arrived at the scene after reports of a tourist behaving erratically.

Footage shows officers ordering the bulky man wearing elephant pants to wake up. When he refused to leave his perch, they dragged him off the vehicle, only for him to then lie down on the kerb.

While being questioned, the dazed tourist said: 'They take my money. They took everything. That person standing there. Help me, they take my everything.'

Authorities said they struggled to communicate with the man, who claimed to be a 32-year-old from India on holiday in the coastal town.

Female taxi driver Kanyaluck Thitisirikonpat, 38, said she was driving to a Buddhist temple when the tourist stopped her car asking for help.

She said: ‘I was just driving to pray at the temple when the foreigner suddenly ran up to my car, banging on the door and asking for help. He was very drunk, so I didn't open the door. Then he just climbed onto the roof and wouldn't get off.'

Police said the tourist was taken to a hospital for treatment.

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.