This is the dramatic moment a farmer trapped in a rice harvester bin was rescued in Thailand.

Thepphanom Boonkhrong, 57, was pushing stubborn grains down with his foot when he slipped into the combine harvester tank on Thursday evening.

His boot was wedged in the machinery, dragging his right leg into the whirring gears.

Driver Piyaphong Thongwang, 19, said he heard the older man's panicked screams and turned off the harvester just in time. He then called a rescue team to free Thepphanom.

Emergency crews spent two hours sawing off parts of the harvester before freeing the farmer from the cramped compartment. He was rescued with a badly mangled ankle and taken to Buriram Hospital for treatment.

Piyaphong told police: 'I didn't see when he climbed onto the machine. Normally, unauthorised people are not allowed to climb on it. I only realised something was wrong when I heard someone shouting for help. I shut off the engine and climbed in to check, and that's when I found him stuck inside the rice bin.

'I think he went in to check if there were grains stuck in the bin. He must have tried to push them down with his foot before falling.'

The accident occurred just two days after a similar rice harvester incident in northeast Thailand.

Noppadol Sapjorhor was trying to clear jammed crops with his foot when his boot caught on the harvester's spiral blade in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

He was left with a mangled leg as his foot was dragged into the mechanism.

Friends shut off the machine just in time, and rescuers rushed him to hospital with severe injuries.