Terrified tourists screamed in horror and fled for their lives from a poolside at Club Hotel Pineta in Marmaris. The incident was part of a prank by the Turkish hotel staff that dressed up as ISIS killers that pretended to carry out a gun attack.

The unidentified male worker chanted loudly in Arabic and reportedly approached terrified British families that screamed and fled. At one point, he approaced a young girl, aged six, and pretended to reach for his gun.

The other staff members watched in amusement as he walked around the pool before entering the three-star hotel’s restaurant.

This is not the first time that such a prank has startled tourists at a Turkish hotel. 10 weeks earlier a similar stunt had frightened holidaymakers at the five-star Grand Yazici mares hotel in Icmeler where a number of staff members reportedly stormed the venue’s pool area with fake machine guns and cans labelled ‘fuel’.

These scary incidents conjure images of the Tunisian attack on June 26 that claimed the lives of 38 innocent tourists, including 30 British holidaymakers.

After the latest stunt, at least one British holidaymaker is suing the travel firm.

In the earlier incident a spokeswoman for Jet2holidays said:

“We are sorry to hear about the distress experienced by the Sutton family and on hearing this we immediately spoke to the hotel management.

“They have assured us it was never their intention to cause any offence or upset with their entertainment programme. 

“This was a Hollywood-themed poolside show, which included the characters Rambo and Superman, and it is always well received by the hotel’s residents.

“The hotel management now understands that some of the costumes may have caused offence and they will no longer use these in their shows.”