TERRIFIED passengers told how the two terrorists targeted Glasgow Airport on one of its busiest days of the year, with 35,000 people due to fly out.

TERRIFIED passengers told how the two terrorists targeted Glasgow Airport on one of its busiest days of the year, with 35,000 people due to fly out.

Around 2300 people were in Terminal One when the car bombers smashed a Jeep Cherokee loaded with gas canisters into the front doors of the building at 3.15pm.

The driver opened bottles of petrol, setting himself and the car alight, while his passenger ran into the terminal building, holding what eyewitnesses described as "firebombs".

Hundreds of passengers ran for their lives.

But as terror took hold on Scottish soil, it turned airport staff, off-duty police officers and holidaymakers into heroes.

Staff and passengers joined the bid to catch the two men, while police moved in.

Quick-thinking holidaymakers and police wrestled the two attackers to the ground.

The driver, suffering serious burns, was taken to Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital, where his condition was today described as "critical".

One of the men who tackled him was 40-year-old Michael Kerr, from Denny, Stirlingshire, who had just flown from Menorca with his wife and two-year-old twin daughters.

He suffered a broken leg and damaged teeth after tackling the driver and is in the Southern General Hospital.

A relative said: "He was not a hero - he just acted on pure instinct but has paid the price with his injuries, which will put him off work for a long while."

An off-duty policeman grabbed a fire extinguisher to hose down the blazing driver.

Airport worker John Smeaton said: "I saw the Jeep crash into the front of the building. A man got out of the passenger side and a policeman ran to assist - but the man attacked him.

"A woman security worker and I pulled him away from the vehicle and the other man, covered in flames, attacked the police.

"I thought, I've got to help, I can't let them get away with this'."

Stephen Clarkson also helped to capture the driver amid the panic.

He said: "There was an Asian man with flames coming from his body. It was just lucky I was there, I managed to knock the man to the ground with my forearm and the police got him and restrained him."

Jacqui Kennedy, 46, from Torrance, had stepped outside the terminal after checking in for a flight to Dubai.

She said: "I saw the Jeep swing by and smash into the front doors at an angle.

"It was wedged in the front of the terminal, with its wheels spinning.

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"The driver was throwing petrol at the window and there were flames everywhere.

"The man's whole body caught fire but he seemed calm and even had smile on his face.

"The driver got out the car and was putting up a fight. He obviously wanted to finish the job.

"He was wearing a boiler suit and it was well ablaze but he was trying to walk and was swinging punches.

"I saw him being pinned to the ground by the police. He was very badly burned but he was smiling - he'd got what he wanted."

Robin Patterson, 42, from Rochester, Kent, said: "The driver had a crazed look on his face. He was a lunatic.

"There was blood everywhere, his skin was away. He looked like something out of a horror film.

"I was 10 to 20 yards away and people were running away from the front doors."

James Frew, 28, from Irvine, was inside the terminal building with his girlfriend Gillian Peat, 25, when the Jeep smashed into the doors.

He said: "There was a lot of confusion inside the building, people thought it was a car crash.

"The front of the car was partly inside the terminal and the wheels were revving.

"There was pandemonium. We saw the flames in the back of the Jeep then heard a loud bang."

Charlene Young, 21, was outside the terminal with her two year-old son Denver.

The mum from Dennistoun, who was due to fly to Gran Canaria, said: "I grabbed my son and ran away - it was terrifying."

Police immediately shut the airport and hundreds of passengers took shelter in the lobbies of nearby hotels and under the M8 flyover.

Hundreds were later bussed to the SECC to spend the night at an emergency centre set up in Hall 3.

Five holidaymakers were taken to the Southern General Hospital and four were later discharged following treatment.