A GLASGOW tourist has told of her "petrifying" experience of being caught up in a Mexican airport during a gun scare. 

The woman, who does not want to be named, was at security with her husband at Cancun Airport last night when hundreds of people started to scream and run. 

Three loud bangs were heard and the airport descended into chaos.

Glasgow Times:

However, Mexican authorities insist there is no evidence of gunshots and that the noise was due to large billboard signs falling over. 

The woman, who was travelling back to her home in Glasgow via Heathrow, said she thought she was going to die.

She added: "It was horrendous, I can’t even explain it. I’m getting emotional again. It was so scary.

"First they were saying it was an X-raying machine that blew up but it wasn’t because we were in security when it happened.

Glasgow Times:

"They locked us in security, they locked people in Duty-Free. Everybody down the stairs was hiding behind check-in desks. People ran out of the airport. They put the airport into lockdown.

"Then they said it was three big billboards that got knocked over – that weigh 50kg each. Why would someone knock three over? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."

The tourist explained that she was standing in the security queue, using her phone when the scare took place.

She said: "We heard screaming and 'bang bang bang'. Everyone was screaming and people were shouting 'get down'.

"There were bags everywhere."

Glasgow Times:

The woman ended up losing her own suitcase because she had to leave it and run, but was later reunited with it. 

She added: "Loads of people ran down the stairs. It quickly got over with and the next thing the Army came in with their rifles.

"Honestly, I genuinely thought we were going to die."

Photos show hairbrushes, facemasks, jackets, cases, a laptop and more strewn across the floor, alongside metal barriers used for queues. 

Meanwhile, the airport was put into lockdown for a short period of time.

The police chief of the state of Quintana Roo said on Twitter: "The fall of this advertisement at floor level, installed inside terminal 3 of the Cancun airport, coincides with the moment in which people run, presumably due to the noise caused by causing confusion among the users of the air terminal."