Up to 150 Irish tourists were stranded overnight in a Croatian airport as forest fires raged around them, it emerged today.
The holidaymakers, who included small children and a pregnant woman, could see the flames and smell the smoke from their waiting room in Dubrovnik Airport.
The group was forced to sleep on plastic seats or on the floor from 11.30pm until 8am this morning when the fires abated and coaches were allowed to depart for hotels.
Some of the tourists were elderly and on a pilgrimage to the Medujorge shrine.
Limerick holidaymaker Vincent O'Brien, 33, said: "It was chaos. We were literally left to our own devices.
"We were given no information during the night from the airport or the tour operators, Croatia Tours, until this morning.
"The water was turned off in the taps because apparently they needed the water to fight the fires. We only had access to a small bar that was packed."
The IT manager added: "The fire was so close to the airport that we could see the flames and smell the smoke.
"We could also see the fires from the air as we were coming down to land and the landing was rough enough because of the draught generated by the fires."
Parts of southern Europe have seen the worst forest fires for decades and Croatia recorded 800 separate blazes in July alone.
Last week, the Canary islands experienced its worst fires for 50 years and the Department of Foreign Affairs was forced to advise tourists to avoid affected areas. The blazes hit destinations popular with Irish tourists like Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
PA