Tourists warned after Spanish blasts

IRISH tourists in Spain's Costa Blanca were advised yesterday to be vigilant following two hotel bomb blasts.

No Irish people were injured in the explosions in Alicante and Benidorm, which occurred at around 10am (Irish time) yesterday.

Irish travel agents and local journalists said there were no Irish people staying in either hotel targeted by Basque separatist group ETA.

Eight people - six believed to be police - were injured in the blast in the Hotel Residencia Bahia in Alicante.

Two tourists, including a British girl, were injured.

Four people, all police, were injured in the blast in Hotel Nadal in Benidorm.

Both hotels were evacuated minutes before the explosions, following the warning that the devices would explode at 12.30am (10.30am Irish time).

But Spanish reports said they went off at around 12.05am as police were trying to defuse them.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs here said: "We would advise people to be aware of what's going on, to take account of security advice from local police, to stay away from demonstrations and to use common sense."

He said they were not advising people not to travel to Spain or to Costa Blanca.

A spokeswoman for Budget Travel, one of the main travel agents serving the area, said their local representatives were doing what they could for their clients.

"They are advising them to be vigilant wherever possible. They are trying to reassure our clients so as their holidays are not disturbed."

She said there was no reason for people flying out to the area to be worried.

Budget Travel would have about 700 people in each resort at any stage during the peak summer months, said the spokeswoman.

The two other main travel agents serving the area - Panorama and Falcon - also said none of their customers were affected.

Panorama operates a flight only service to Alicante, with an estimated 4,000 travellers during March and October.

A spokeswoman for Falcon said they supported the advice given by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

An Aer Lingus spokeswoman said they fly out up to 180 people, the bulk of them tourists, five times a week to Alicante.

Local journalist Tom Cain of the Costa Blanca News said both Alicante and Benidorm were popular with Irish people. As far as he knew no Irish people were in either hotel.

Belfast Lord Mayor Martin Morgan of the SDLP was just 40 yards from the hotel in Benidorm when the bomb went off. He called on ETA to follow the route taken by the IRA and abandon its bombing campaign, which many fear may continue during the summer.

Brendan Moran of the Irish Travel Agents Association said an estimated 600,000 Irish people went on holiday to Spain last year, and that there might be 7,500 at any given time.