A Lanarkshire mum has told of her holiday horror after a horrific shooting took place just yards away.
Rutherglen woman Tracey Campbell and her children Chloe, 16, and Louis, 14, were on a break in Mexico when they witnessed a man being led past them when blood pouring from a hole on his face after being shot.
The man had been injured on the Costa Mujeres beach, near the Riu Dunamar Hotel where Tracey and her kids were vacationing with pal Sandra Drummond and her daughter Darcy, 15.
However the group have been left traumatised after witnessing the horrible scenes.
Tracey told Lanarkshire Live's sister title the Daily Record: "“The reason we booked the holiday was because I had just got over having a stroke and having surgery on an artery in my neck.
"“It was meant to be a great holiday for us to get away and chill out. My friend Sandra, who booked up to come with us, had just lost a loved one and had had a terrible year. It was going to be his birthday while we were away so I suggested that she come with us.
“It was meant to be a holiday of a lifetime but it turned into absolute hell. I’ve now got a 14-year-old boy who is struggling to sleep because he’s still so terrified that it could’ve been him or us that got shot.
“On the day, we had breakfast as normal and went to the pool which is practically on the beach. Sandra and I were sitting on the lilo beds and I heard this really loud bang.
"I thought it was something over at the BBQ grill - like they had dropped a keg or something at one of the bars."
However Tracey soon realised something more serious had happened when her children ran up screaming.
She added: "A woman stood up behind us and shouted: ‘that guy’s just been shot in the face’.
"Within seconds, there was another guy who appeared and said the bullet had just whizzed by his ear.
“He was crying and his kids and wife were in a terrible state. There were about a dozen people gathered around the side where it happened.
"When the armed police arrived, we weren’t able to move away from where we were.
“The guy who had been shot in the face was paraded up by the pool where we were sitting with a big hole in the side of his face, with blood dripping everywhere and his eyes were bulging out of his head."
Tracey slammed holiday company TUI, who she claimed told residents at the hotel to sign forms stating they would not tell anyone what they witnessed.
Now the 55-year-old believes the travel operator should offer further help, as well as compensation.
She said: "They sent me a leaflet with a number to phone to get the kids and ourselves to speak to someone for support.
"But my daughter, who was 16 when it happened, has become so introverted that it’s difficult to get her to speak to me, never-mind a stranger.
"My son is still struggling to sleep.
"TUI have just been so flippant about it all.
"We’ve not even had an apology because they say it was out-with their control what had happened and we should have checked the place before we went.
"I think we should be entitled to some form of compensation or another holiday for us not being able to enjoy the rest of our trip.
"But I’m just getting no further forward with them."
A TUI spokeswoman said: “We understand the incident encountered by Ms Campbell and her family will have been incredibly distressing, and can confirm it has been taken extremely seriously by both TUI and the Riu Dunamar Hotel.
"Following the incident, a TUI rep went to the resort to provide support to the families and immediately moved them to another hotel.
"TUI customer teams have been in contact with the families multiple times since they returned home and all those travelling were offered CCP.
"As additional compensation, the customers will receive a gesture of goodwill."
A spokesman for the Riu Dunamar Hotel added that the incident was "distressing" but also "very rare."
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