A FAMILY from York who were just yards away when a terrorist bomb exploded outside their hotel have spoken of their ordeal.

Mike and Sue Wilby, from Woodthorpe, and their son, Dan, 11, were three days into their summer holiday when Basque separatists struck at the Cap Salou resort, on the Costa Dorada in north-east Spain.

They were among 800 guests being evacuated from the Cala Font Hotel when the 110lb car bomb, planted by the Basque terrorist group Eta, exploded just 30 metres away from them on Saturday.

And to add to the trauma, the family look unlikely to be compensated for the £1,500 they lost by cutting short their holiday.

Their holiday company and insurers will not pay out over acts of terrorism.

Mr Wilby, 55, a retired National Health Service manager, said: "A few paces after we got to the top of the steps at the front of the hotel I turned round to see where Sue and Dan were and I saw the thing go up.

"I saw the fireball closely followed by the bang and the pall of smoke. There was a lot of screaming, panic and pandemonium.

"We cuddled each other to make sure we were all okay, and then turned and ran."

The family believe they could have been killed had the blast not been deflected by a row of parked cars.

"I'm convinced we and about 70 or 80 other people would have taken the full force of the blast," said Mr Wilby.

After the explosion, guests gathered further up the street, many in tears and others desperately trying to phone relatives.

Mr Wilby said: "There was a feeling of relief. We were thankful we were alive and out of danger."

But the family want to know why they were alerted to the evacuation just 15 minutes before the blast, when police had apparently been aware of the 8am bomb more than an hour before it went off.

Badly shaken and with son Dan upset and wanting to go home, the family cut short their two-week break and eventually managed to get a flight home the next day.

But when they returned, they were shocked to discover they were not entitled to a penny from holiday firm First Choice or their insurers, Direct Line, as acts of terrorism were not covered.

The family were offered alternative accommodation and counselling by First Choice.

Mr Wilby said: "We felt it would have been impossible for us to continue to enjoy our holiday."

He wants to make other holidaymakers aware that even the most comprehensive insurance policy will not cover them should they get caught up in terrorist activity.

The latest Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice to people holidaying in Spain says the "threat to tourists in Spain in statistically low".

Police arrested eight suspected members of Eta today and seized weapons and bomb-making equipment in raids on apartments in the towns of Zizurkil, Zaldibia and Lasarte in northwest Spain.

The state news agency, Efe, reported that police confiscated 220 pounds of explosives, grenades and other weapons.

Eta has claimed or been blamed for 35 killings since ending its unilateral 14-month ceasefire in January, 2000.

The group has killed about 800 people in shootings and bombings since its campaign for an independent Basque homeland began in 1968.

Updated: 11:15 Wednesday, August 22, 2001