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Britons caught up in Tunisian beach attack
6 minutes ago
From the section UK
Map showing the location of the attack
British tourists have been describing an attack on a beach in the popular resort town of Sousse, in Tunisia.
Gary Pine, from Bristol, said he heard "bullets whizzing around us" and shots fired at the Port El Kantaoui resort.
At least 27 people have been killed, and the UK Foreign Office says it is "urgently investigating" whether any are British.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he offered "our solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism".
At least one gunman has been shot dead and another is being pursued, officials say.
Mr Pine, who is on holiday with his wife and son at the El Mouradi Palm Marina hotel, said he had been on the beach with his family about noon when he heard a sound he initially thought was firecrackers.
"You could see within seconds of the noise breaking out that people started to exit the beach very, very quickly.
"It seemed to be happening 150 yards to our left. The people in the direct vicinity of the incident were breaking in all kinds of different directions.
"There was confusion. No-one knew what seemed to be breaking out. My wife was shouting to my son to get out the sea, and as he ran up the beach he said 'I just saw someone get shot'."
He also said that he heard an explosion on an adjacent hotel complex.
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Gary Pine photographed a helicopter above this Tunisian hotel following the attack
Debbie Horsfall, from Huddersfield, was on the beach with her friend when the shooting began.
"My friend stood up and saw a man with the gun firing. We got up and ran, but we didn't know where to go.
"We have only been here two days - we came on Wednesday. We went to back to our room but we didn't feel safe.
"We just want to go home - we packed right away. We booked our holiday with Thomson. They said there are no flights at the moment until the airport is safe.
"At the moment the hotel and beach are on lockdown."
British holidaymaker Steve Johnson was on the beach when the attack began. He says he tried to make sure others were safe until police arrived.
He told the BBC: "We shouted to everybody around us who joined the sort of mass rush from the beach and we ended up in the spa area of the hotel where we sort of tried to organise people to get themselves concealed away from windows, got the staff to lock all the doors.
"We stayed there until we started to see armed police officers and waited until we were told it was safe to come out."
Lobby attack
Glenn Leathley told the BBC how his daughter Olivia, who is staying at the Riu Bellevue Park, was caught in the lobby of her hotel when a gunman entered.
He said: "She called to say she was running to find a safe place to hide. We didn't want to call back in case the phone ringing showed them the place where she was hiding.
"She rang me in a panic at 12pm. She was crying. She said there was gunfire on the beach.
"About five minutes later she rang me again in a panic and said 'They've come into the lobby'. At that point they started running to find a safe place to hide."
He added that his daughter had since said she was safe.
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Cameron said there would be a meeting of the UK government's emergency Cobra group on Friday afternoon. It will be chaired by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
Mr Cameron added: "We have got to do all we can to help.
"That means co-operating on counter-terrorism, building our capacity on counter-terrorism, it means dealing with the threat at source whether that is Isil [also known as Islamic State] in Syria and Iraq or whether it is other extremist groups around the world."
Mr Hammond has tweeted that his thoughts are "with all those caught up in today's appalling attacks".
Tourism 'blow'
Tunisia has been on high alert since March when militants killed 22 people, mainly foreign tourists, in an attack on a museum in the capital Tunis.
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a failed attack on the beach in Sousse in October 2013.
A spokeswoman for Thomson and First Choice said: "We are working closely with our teams in Tunisia and the relevant authorities to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected."
Travel expert Simon Calder said British holiday companies would be trying to bring holidaymakers back to the UK.
"For the Foreign Office not to declare effectively the summer over for Tunisia would be frankly a surprise", he added.
Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent, said the attack would be a "hammer blow" for the Tunisian tourist industry.
He said it showed that "despite Tunisia's best efforts the government has not got on top of the problem of international tourists being attacked in resorts".
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