Two American tourists who were almost killed after an angry elephant attacked their canoe have described their terror as the animal tried to drown them.

Larry Unrein and his partner Jeff Melvin narrowly escaped with their lives following the ordeal in Botswana.

The couple were on a safari on the Okavango Delta on September 27 when their peaceful trip took a violent turn.

‘The first thought that came to my mind was, “This is the end of me”,’ Melvin told Good Morning America.

Footage of the moment showed the elephant suddenly charging at the vessel, as the tour guide unsuccessfully attempted to steer the raging beast away.

The speeding elephant then slammed into the canoe with such force that it flipped the boat over, tipping Unrein, Melvin and and the other passengers into crocodile-infested waters.

The beast then charged at a woman and pushed her under the water twice in an attempt to drown her. 

‘She was pushed in twice and held under, and if it wasn’t for the water, she would not be with us,’ Unrein said.

Melvin and Unrein said their canoe safari began as an ‘incredible adventure’, but the trip took a turn for the worse when their boat drifted too close to a herd of elephants.

‘We kept telling that they were kind of getting a little annoyed at our presence,’ Melvin said. ‘Then just in the blink of an eye, things kind of changed.’ 

Unrein said the boat had not realized a mother elephant and her two calves were nearby. 

He said: ‘They were hidden in some tall grass but out of sight.’ 

Melvin and Unrein escaped with the help of their guides, although Unrein ‘thought for sure’ that the elephant was going to kill him.

Unrein said: ‘Once I was safe, it was just jubilation. I was very happy to be alive.’ 

Elephants kill around 500 people a year, according to the BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Adult African elephants can weigh up to about 14,000 pounds and can grow up to 13 feet tall.

Chris Melvin, Jeff’s brother, posted on Facebook: ‘Jeff lost some camera gear but everyone’s OK.’ 

He added that his mother was glad his brother had survived.

‘Jeff texted her right after they dried off so she wouldn’t see it online first,’ he wrote.

Last April, an American woman was killed by an elephant on a safari in Zambia.

Earlier this year, also in Zambia, a British tourist and her friend from New Zealand were killed by a charging elephant during a ‘sunrise safari walk.’