A dream holiday in Mexico became a nightmare for an electrician when Hurricane Wilma ripped through a tranquil resort.

Craig Bulmer, 24, had spent ten peaceful days relaxing at Paradise Beach in Cancun with his girlfriend Carly Drake, 22, her sister Tammy Drake, 24, and her boyfriend Damian Slater, 27, when the holiday was shattered.

"The first we heard about it was when we came downstairs at about 8.30am. We were going to swim with dolphins and we were all happy," said Mr Bulmer, of Thornton, who works for J.L.E.C. Electrical at Essex Park Industrial Estate, Bradford.

Mr Bulmer said a group of stricken people were gathered in the lobby.

"Someone was saying something about a hurricane. Fear just struck everyone there and then," he said.

Although the day was still sunny Mr Bulmer said waves were crashing into the swimming pool. Mr Bulmer said the friends, all from Thornton, were told the hotel would be evacuated for the night and to take a change of clothes.

But the friends were taken to a hotel in a rundown part of the city where they sheltered from the storm for seven days in a small room packed with 15 people.

"There were three young children in there. And there was no running water, not even the toilet. It was awful, really bad," he said.

Mr Bulmer said the hotel was guarded to stop the tourists from leaving during the storm which raged for days overhead.

"All of the staff in the hotel kept smiling, and that's what kept us going," said Mr Bulmer.

And the children on the streets of the city also kept the group from feeling sorry for themselves. These starving children were begging so we got some chocolate and handed it out to them.

"We felt bad because we had paid so much for the holiday, but this is their everyday life," said Mr Bulmer.

After three days of sheltering the storm suddenly dropped. "We thought it was over, but we were in the eye of the storm and within three hours it all started again. I was terrified, all of us were," he said.

Finally after a week sheltering within the tiny room Mr Bulmer said the group were told they were going to be taken to get a flight home. But all of their possessions were still at the hotel.

"We paid $120 for a taxi to the hotel to get our bags," he said.

On arrival at the Beach Paradise Hotel the holidaymakers were shocked at what was left. "There was glass everywhere. I went up to my room and had to kick the door down. Half the room had dropped into the sea," said Mr Bulmer.

Finally the exhausted tourists were taken by coach to an airport. "It was an 18-hour coach ride because it broke down twice on the way," he said.

On arrival the passengers were kept on the coach because of airport chaos. And Mr Bulmer said most security measures had been dropped.

When he arrived at Manchester airport Mr Bulmer discovered his luggage was still in Mexico.

"It's been nightmare after nightmare," he said. "I'm never going there again. I'll be going to Skegness, it's safer there," he said.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook, the company behind Mr Bulmer's holiday, said: "Our customer relations team will be contacting all customers who were affected by Hurricane Wilma to discuss options on a case by case basis." And the company said it would be offering guests the services of a trained counsellor.