A tourist caught up in the Egyptian bomb blasts has told of her escape.

Debbie Froggley, 43, and her family did not know if they would make it home alive following the terrorist attacks in the tourist resort of Dahab on Monday, which killed 24 people.

Mrs Frogley, her husband Stephen, 40, and son Matthew, 14, were staying in a hotel in the nearby town of Taba when three bombs went off simultaneously during their two-week holiday.

The family heard rumbling sounds but did not know what had happened until they saw television news reports in their hotel room.

Mrs Frogley said: "We were very scared.

"We had a guard on the door of our hotel but there was a side door which anyone could walk into.

"We immediately wanted to get out but no one was telling us anything.

"Eventually our tour rep rang and said he didn't know if we would be able to fly home in the morning.

"If we couldn't fly, he didn't think we would be able to stay in the hotel, which meant we would have to stay in the airport, which is just one room and would be full of British tourists.

"We were frightened to go to bed and lay in our clothes all night in case another bomb went off and we had to get out.

"We closed the shutters on our windows in case there was a blast which smashed the glass."

The Frogleys, who live in Piddinghoe Avenue, Peacehaven, had been due to fly home the following day but set off not knowing if they would be able to leave.

On the way to the airport, their coach was stopped at a checkpoint, where guards said it was too dangerous for them to continue without an armed escort.

Mrs Frogley, an advertising display executive, said: "There were police everywhere.

"They had stingers and big shields with slits for the machine guns they were holding it was like Beirut.

"We had to wait there 25 minutes until they could get us an escort, which took us to the airport. It was very nerve-wracking."

Mrs Frogley has not slept much since the attack.

She said: "Obviously we couldn't sleep on Monday and when we got home last night we were still too shaken up.

"Some of the guys we were holidaying with had gone to Dahab the previous week and we could have quite easily been there.

"We chose Egypt for the snorkelling, the sun and because it was good value for money.

"But we won't be going back."

Mrs Frogley's son was less phased by his experience of terrorism.

She said: "He said it was exciting. "If a bomb went off where we were, he said he would make sure he rescued his portable PlayStation."