A HEREFORDSHIRE couple narrowly avoided the horror of the Tunisian terror attack- because they realised they had forgotten their towels just as they were walking to the beach.

Ben Thomas-Cook, 24, and Leah Theakston, 19, were staying in the next resort along from where the massacre occurred- a five-minute walk away on the beach.

But they were in Sousse last Friday when the shooting took place, as they had decided to head back to the beach where they had been the day before.

As they neared the area where the gunman fired at tourists- leaving 38 dead- they realised they had left their towels behind and turned to walk back to the shops to buy some.

Mr Thomas-Cook, a showjumper who works in Brinsop, said: "That is when it just went crazy. We could see fire engines and ambulances. We heard a lot of commotion.

"We didn't know what was going on but we knew it wasn't right and thought we should go back to the hotel, so we got a taxi."

He said when they got back to the hotel staff did not know what was happening, and it wasn't until calls and texts came through from family that they realised.

He said: "People were almost in denial. I spoke to the hotel manager and he was denying what was going on. I said, 'Look at my phone- this is happening. It is only 10 minutes up the road.'

"We heard there were three gunmen and one had been caught, so we thought two gunmen were on the loose out there."

The couple had checked out in the morning as they were due to fly out at 10pm. They waited to hear any news.

Mr Thomas-Cook said: "It was really scary. We sat there for about three hours. We didn't feel safe.

"We didn't know if the bus was going to arrive to pick us up. It did, although it was an hour late.

"We didn't know if it was for us as all the curtains were closed on the bus.

"We had dropped people off at the hotel where the shooting took place when we had arrived the week before.

"We obviously didn't pick them up. We had no idea what had happened to them."

Mr Thomas-Cook said there was very little security at the airport and they were relieved to board the flight home, which left over two hours late.

He said: "I can't put it into words. I feel lucky but then I feel very sad. It is such a tragedy. The most disappointing thing is, if it had happened in this country, there would have been far less casualties than there was. Their armed forces response and emergency response was nothing like what we could provide. I felt let down by their authorities."