A LEBANESE dad from Burnley today told how his family fled for their lives after being caught up in the bombing of the war-torn country.

Gabi Wehbe and his wife Mary, of Clover Crescent, Ightenhill, three children and parents-in-law were rescued and brought back home on a Royal Navy rescue ship.

The family finally arrived back on Friday and today told how a relaxing holiday turned into a nightmare because of the Israeli air offensive on the country.

Gabi, 38, said: "One day everything was fine and we were all on the beach and then the next we were watching jets fly past us dropping bombs.

"It was surreal. It's something that you never expect to be in the middle of."

Gabi, a co-owner of Unique Fireplaces in Brierfield, criticised the British Embassy's attempted co-ordination of the rescue operation, branding it a "joke".

The couple and their children Zac, 11, Sam, three and Maya, one, could not get a response from the embassy about how to get out of the country.

So they took a chance and headed to the port and were lucky enough to get on the HMS Gloucester. Ten minutes after they left, the port was bombed.

Gabi, who moved to England in 1989 following similar trouble in the country, said: "The British Embassy were useless.

"They promised to ring us and tell us when help was going to be arriving.

"I gave them three different phone numbers and they didn't call.

"My brother told me to go and not to wait for the embassy.

"I didn't know what to do for the best so we just packed all our things and went.

"It was sheer luck that I saw a man on the ship from a distance with a Union Jack on the arm of his shirt."

The family had been on a four-week holiday at their new apartment in Beirut alongside Mary's parents, Denise and Martin Carlin, also from Ightenhill, when the trouble started.

Gabi said: "We were just 10 miles away from where all the bombings were and it was frightening.

"I was afraid for my family because we didn't know how we were going to get out of the country."

However despite the family boarding the safety of the ship they later discovered that Mary's parents had been left at the port.

Mary, 29, added: "We were panicking because we had been told about the port being bombed.

"We asked one of the navy men and he rang around and told us that no British people had been killed, so we knew they hadn't been hurt.

"They have arrived home safe and well on the second ship.

"It's some-thing that I never want to have to go through again.

"It was frightening, but despitei everything that's happened it won't stop us off going back there."