A holidaymaker from Accrington has spoken of the chaos in Tunisia where clashes between armed police and anti-government protesters left dozens dead.

Adam Wallace, 31, was among hundreds of tourists who arrived back at Manchester Airport after being evacuated from the north African country.

It followed a string of bloody riots. A state of emergency was declared and the president resigned after 23 years in power before fleeing the country.

Mr Wallace, a Tesco security manager, flew out to Tunisia for a week’s holiday last Wednesday, however his trip was cut short only two days in after he and fellow tourists were evacuated.

Mr Wallace, who was flying with Thomson and First Choice, was staying at Port El Kantaoui just outside the resort of Sousse.

He said: "When I got there on the Wednesday everything was fine. It was only as the week progressed that it began to change. However everybody thought that we were far enough away from trouble.

"We found out on Friday that Thomas Cook were taking people home and from there things progressed very quickly.

"Everybody got a call about 11.30pm saying that Thomson were taking us away and we didn’t have a choice.

"It was just a case of pick up your suitcase and be ready for 7am. There was also a curfew that night which meant we couldn't leave the hotel.

"As we were packing our suitcases you could hear helicopters outside. It was very strange. I didn’t sleep too well that night."

Mr Wallace praised the staff at Thomson and First Choice for their hard work and diligence and says he only realised how bad the situation was on the journey to Monastir Airport.

"There was army personnel along the roads and they were standing there with guns.

"As we moved down the road there was a petrol station that was smashed up and vandalised and people were looting from it."

Mr Wallace says he is glad to be back in Accrington after the ordeal and believes the decision to fly passengers back was the correct one.

More than 3,000 British holidaymakers and ex-pats were evacuated amid escalating looting and attacks on buildings.

The Foreign Office has warned all Britons to leave unless they have ‘a pressing need to remain’.

The Foreign Office has sent a team of civil servants to Tunisia to help search for British nationals and find out how many are still there.