British holidaymakers were stuck in four-hour long queues at a Portuguese airport - with people passing out amid "riot" fears.
Travellers became trapped at the passport barriers in a hot and stuffy Faro Airport due to sudden unscheduled strike action.
Witness Sam Jones said paramedics were called after a youngster fainted.
While Rachael O'Shea called the situation "insanity" as she shared shocking footage on Twitter.
She added: "People collapsing, children and those with disabilities not being given any assistance. It’s getting extremely dangerous."
And Knut Moe said people were "dropping like flies".
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People were lining up along suspended escalators and stairways after landing at 10.55am on Friday.
Portugal Resident reported that passengers were fearful of a riot happening as more and more of the travellers missed their flights.
It comes as British Passport Office workers announced this morning they will strike for five weeks.
More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union are taking part in the mass walkout from April 3 to May 5 in a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Sam, 36, told the MailOnline as he waited, the crowd was becoming more and more "agitated" after passport workers in Faro abandoned their posts.
Two border control officers were left to deal with arrivals causing absolute chaos.
Plumber Sam flew from Stansted with a dozen pals for a golfing weekend.
Other harrowing footage posted on social media shows hordes of dismayed passengers in gridlock.
Hundreds of tourists can be seen, tightly packed together.
Twitter user Marc, who posted a clip, wrote: "If someone doesn’t sort this out soon something bad is going to happen. Surely this is a fire hazard?!?!!"
Meanwhile, Sam, who was cut off from his friends, continued: "People are shouting and getting agitated and it's very hot.
"There's only two people open, and we're pretty certain that they've just gone for lunch and left us all here."
He joked he expected to be there until Monday when he's due to fly home.
Airport staff handed out water to waiting passengers.
It comes as thousands of Heathrow Airport workers will walk out over the Easter holidays in a dispute over pay and conditions.
More than 3,000 Unite workers at the West London travel hub were balloted strike action since February 17, with a decision to hit the picket line returned this afternoon.
Security guards, engineers and firefighters who have rejected a 10 per cent pay increase were expected to walk out.
And today Unite confirmed that more than 1,400 of its members employed by Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL) will take 10 days of strike action from March 31 after voting in favour of walkouts.
The strike action involves security guards employed at Terminal Five, the Union said.
Referring to the upcoming Passport Office strike action, PCS union warned today that the strike action is "likely to have a significant impact on the delivery of passports as the summer approaches".
Last year as Covid restrictions across the globe were lifted there was "unprecedented" demand on the Passport Office as people attempted to renew their documents.
