Five friends on holiday for the first time together after leaving school, are back home after surviving a Bulgarian mafia shooting in a bar.

Four of the teenagers had just completed their exams at Langholm Academy and, along with a fifth member of the group, were having a big trip before going their separate ways.

Joel Ewart, 17, of Langholm, Ross Warbeck, 17, of Chapelknowe, Nathan Smith, 18, of Eaglesfield, Jack Adams, 17, of Newcastleton, and Craig Pool, 17, who works in Carlisle, landed at Newcastle Airport early yesterday, relieved to be safely back home.

Joel lives in Thomas Telford Road and has applied to join the Army later this summer.

He said: “We went as soon as we finished our exams. We were saying goodbye before we all went off to university or elsewhere.

“I would like to join the Royal Regiment of Scotland or the Parachute Regiment.”

They stayed in the resort of Sunny Beach. Joel said: “We were looking for a good deal and it sounded decent; it was really good.

“We had been there for two days when we walked past a bar and a man came out and said there would be special offers on drinks that night. It sounded good so we went back there later.

“It was a nice bar and everyone was very friendly. We were asked whether we wanted to sit outside or inside and, luckily, we chose outside. It was quite packed; there were other holiday makers, including British people.

“We’d been there for only about five or 10 minutes; the owner came out and gave us free drinks and there was live music. A couple of minutes after the band went off for a

break we heard loud bangs. I thought someone must have kicked a sign or dropped something. It didn’t sound like gunshots.

“But when I looked up, I saw a wave of people running towards us and realised it was something more serious.

“Nathan said he had seen five people wearing ski masks running in carrying guns. They ran into the restaurant and this was followed by gunshots. Loads of people started running out; it was pretty chaotic.

“We got up and jumped over a small wall surrounding the outside and ran down the street. Jack ran into a tattoo parlour next door and said a big guy sheltered him and tried to protect him, which was good of him. The locals were very helpful.

“Once we were a safe distance away, we stopped and looked round. Ross and I saw a couple of guys outside shooting into the restaurant. We could see the muzzle flash coming from the pistol. I think he was being shot back at.”

Joel said they got a sense that there were mafia in the resort because they saw a lot of blacked-out cars driving around. The next day they saw news reports about what had happened.

A drug lord had been in the restaurant. He was injured after being shot five times and his bodyguard was killed.

Joel said: “We weren’t a target, which was quite reassuring. We tried not to let it ruin our holiday but we were a bit more vigilant after that. Our holiday rep told us it very rarely happened. But it was surreal; we never expected it.”