Express & Star

Wednesfield woman in Majorca blast

A holidaymaker from the Black Country has told how she was caught up in the terrifying bomb blast that rocked Majorca.

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Officials are now battling to end the travel misery it has caused for thousands of British tourists.

Flights to and from the capital Palma were today starting to return to normal after the airport reopened.

It follows the bombing that killed two policemen yesterday.

School office manager Sue Cockhill, from Wednesfield, was staying with draughtsman husband Howard just yards from the scene of the explosion in Palma Nova.

The couple had been relaxing by the pool at the Palma Nova Hotel when the first blast ripped through a patrol car parked outside a police station around 600 yards away, killing two police officers.

The hotel, which the couple have stayed in for two weeks, is opposite the town's other police station where a second suspected bomb was found under a patrol car.

Mrs Cockhill, in her 50s, said: "The hotel was locked down for four hours. Hundreds of us were ordered to stand hundreds of yards away for a further four hours before there was an enormous controlled explosion.

"Everybody jumped and there were a few screams.

"The hotel restaurant overlooked the scene of the second explosion and we ate dinner with a clear view of the devastated police car that had been blown apart.

"It was pretty unnerving. It was very frightening."

Hundreds of British tourists were stranded yesterday when roads, ports and the airport were closed after the attack, blamed on the Basque separatist group Eta, which today marks its 50th anniversary.

Passengers flying to Palma from Birmingham last night set off on time.

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