Up to 150 Irish tourists were stranded throughout Saturday night in a Croatian airport as forest fires raged around them.
The holidaymakers, who included small children and a pregnant woman, could see the flames and smell the smoke from their waiting area in Dubrovnik Airport.
The group was forced to sleep on plastic seats or on the floor from 11.30pm until about 8am yesterday, when the fires abated and coaches were allowed to depart for hotels.
Some of the tourists were elderly and on a pilgrimage to the Medujorge shrine.
Limerick holidaymaker Vincent O'Brien (33) said: "It was chaos. We were literally left to our own devices.
"We were given no information during the night from the airport or the tour operators, Croatia Tours, until this morning .
"The water was turned off in the taps because apparently they needed the water to fight the fires. We only had access to a small bar that was packed."
He added: "The fire was so close to the airport that we could see the flames and smell the smoke.
"We could also see the fires from the air as we were coming down to land, and the landing was rough enough because of the draught generated by the fires."
Parts of southern Europe have been hit by the worst forest fires for decades and Croatia recorded 800 separate blazes in July alone.
Last week the Canary Islands experienced their worst fires for 50 years and the Department of Foreign Affairs was forced to advise tourists to avoid the affected areas.
The fires affected destinations popular with many Irish tourists, including Gran Canaria and Tenerife.