Britons come home to tell how horror hit holidays

Published on 25/07/2005 01:55

TOURISTS spoke of the "chaos and horror" of the Egyptian bomb attacks as they returned to Britain yesterday.

Around 240 holidaymakers landed at Gatwick and Manchester airports on special flights from Sharm El Sheikh.

Some spoke of seeing dead and injured people lying in the streets, and panic and hysteria as holidaymakers fled for their lives.

Stuart Burns, 34, and his partner Diane Gibson, 34, of Dunfermline, told how they had been enjoying a night out with their 11-year-old son Connor when the bombers struck. Mr Burns said the immediate aftermath was like "a war zone".

"When we ran from the main town there were just body parts everywhere. It was like a war film. A guy was lying at the side of a bar and his legs were severed. It was just horrific.

"There was mass hysteria, people screaming and shouting, 'Get down'. We thought it might be a rocket attack. We couldn't get in cars because people also were saying it was a car bomb. It was chaos."

Gerry and Sylvia Duffy, of Glenrothes, told how they had narrowly avoided being caught up in one of the blasts. Mrs Duffy, 44, said: "We had been in the part of the hotel that blew up just half an hour earlier.

"After the explosion we heard a young girl screaming, 'help me, help me' - she was covered in blood. We got friendly with a couple out there... but haven't seen them since the bombing."

Mr Duffy, a joiner, added: "We are just grateful to be back home."

Meanwhile, one man told yesterday how he already had cheated death during his Egyptian holiday before being caught up in the terror attacks.

Doctors thought John Cockayne, 52, who is a diabetic, would die after he had a severe hypoglycaemic episode just after arriving at the resort last week.

He spent four days in hospital in a coma but survived and returned to his hotel, the Royal Plaza, just hours before it was rocked by a car bomb at the nearby Ghazala Gardens hotel.

Mr Cockayne and his girlfriend, Pamela Ann Pashley, 46, of Sheffield, had wanted to return to the UK on one of the special flights but were unable to leave because Mr Cockayne's passport was still at the hospital.

Ms Pashley said: "After John was so ill and the doctors had said he was going to die, it was a horrific end to the week.

"But I thought about it, and I'm not going to go home. They're not going to get us out."

David Mann, 48, was on holiday with his wife, Pamela, also 48. Mrs Mann went to hospital comforting an injured British girl, believed to be named Georgie Lloyd.

The 14-year-old had lost her mother, who was later found to be alive, but her sister is critical in hospital.

Mr Mann, a draughtsman, of South Shields, said: "The girl was screaming out in pain and kept crying out for her mother and sister.

"We have since found out her sister has been injured pretty badly, but her mother is OK."

The couple's room was just 100 yards from the blast. Mr Mann, holding a coffee cup shaking in his hand, added: "It was like a scene from the Blitz. It was horrific. Everybody was crying and screaming in panic.

"Everybody sort of got together and calmed each other down. We spent hours in the darkness - there was no organisation and no information."

Two more specially arranged flights were due to arrive at Manchester and Gatwick in the early hours of this morning.

But a spokeswoman for MyTravel said that although some people were choosing to cut short their holidays, many others were staying on in the resort.

"Apparently it's very much business as usual apart from for people who are directly affected," she said.

"In neighbouring sub-resorts people are still booking excursions."