This is the moment a fuel tanker dodges two donkeys in a tunnel at the last second as the driver rounds a bend and the animals emerge in view right in front of his lorry.

The incident took place in a tunnel on the SS36 motorway, near the town of Mandello del Lario, which is located in the province of Lecco, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, on Lake Como.

The footage, which was caught by CCTV cameras in the tunnel, shows the fuel tanker rounding the bend at speed inside the tunnel and coming face-to-face with what appears to be an adult donkey and a younger donkey.

The vehicle wobbles wildly and threatens to tip over as it narrowly avoids the two animals. It goes on to the other side of the road and threatens to tip over, but the driver appears to manage to keep control and can be seen driving away down the tunnel as the footage ends.

The lorry driver, who has been named solely as Alessandro from Valtellina, said: “I was carrying a full load. I reached the top of the Mandello climb at 60 kph. I suddenly found the donkeys in front of me, if I had gone faster I would not be here to tell the tale.”

After his brush with death, Alessandro alerted the authorities to the presence of the animals in the tunnel. It is currently unclear if the authorities were able to locate and remove the animals and what they were doing in the tunnel in the first place.