Zookeeper eaten alive by lions in front of horrified tourists who tried to help

A zookeeper was eaten alive by lions in front of a group of horrified tourists who could do little more than beep their car horns at the big cats.

Horrifying images have captured the moment a pack of the big cats descended on a member of staff at Safari World in Bangkok, Thailand, after he exited his jeep in an open enclosure. During the incident, which took place at around 11am local time (5am BST), "three or four" of the animals gnawed the keeper so badly that his bones were exposed.

The horror mauling took place in front of a group of terrified tourists, who were left helpless and beeping on their car horns in a futile attempt to distract the lions.

READ MORE: Schoolgirl dies after being mauled to death by friend's pet dog

READ MORE: One-week-old baby mauled to death by family's husky-pit bull mix at home

Shocked eyewitnesses have told how they were standing less than 10 metres away when they saw the predators pin down the helpless keeper. Professor Tavatchai Kanchanarin, a doctor at a leading Thai hospital who was visiting the park at the time, said they attacked him "while he was getting out of his car" after slowly approaching him.

He said: "The lion attacked the zookeeper while he was getting out of his car. It was about 10 metres away, then slowly approached and grabbed the zookeeper from behind, dragging him to the ground and biting him."

"Three or four other lions then joined in with biting the zookeeper. Many people witnessed the incident but didn't know how to help. They honked their own car horns and shouted for help. At first, I assumed it was familiar to the zookeepers, as the person who was bitten might have been a lion keeper. I thought the lions were trying to hug him, so no one went near that area."

The attack only stopped when zoo officials arrived with guns, causing the lions to scatter into the wilderness. But they were too late to save the unnamed staff member, who had already been killed.

Overall, the attack continued for around 15 minutes, Professor Kanchanarin said, before the zookeeper was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead. Bangkok World Safari Park representatives are yet to comment on the incident, which has shocked members of the public.

Posting on Facebook, one social user warned wild animals should never be trusted. They wrote: "Don't trust a wild animal, even domesticated animals sometimes turns against their keeper."

And another user, who said they had visited the zoo previously, claimed staff were "just chilling with their windows down" while driving through the safari park. They said: "I remember being worried that the staff in those enclosures were just chilling with their windows down when we drove through. RIP to that man."