British tourists stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh are appealing for information about when they can return home.

Adam, from Sheffield, has been staying at the Radisson Blu resort with his brother.

The pair were due to fly back to the UK with Monarch on Friday, but say they have 'no idea whatsoever' about what will happen. He said he had received only 'generic information' from the airline.

Adam, who declined to give his full name, said: 'We have been kept in the dark a little bit. We've just been told all flights have been cancelled. A little bit of information would have been nice - just something.'

Having visited last year he said: 'It definitely feels different for me. The mood is a bit tense ... and it has dampened my mood a little bit.

'I am trying my hardest to keep it at the back of my mind.'

Jared Ashworth, believed to be from Oldham, wrote on Twitter: 'Currently on our 2nd day in Sharm. Looking at the news and wondering how much longer we have out here and if we will get home!'

Mr Hammond said British authorities were working with their Egyptian counterparts and the airlines to introduce emergency measures to bring British tourists safely and securely back to the UK.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'These are special additional measures, not necessarily something that we could do on a sustainable basis but something that we will put in as a short term special measure to get back home the people who are there now.'

In the longer term they will look at tightening routine procedures at Sharm el-Sheikh to ensure that normal flights can resume to and from the area.

But he warned: 'That could take days, it could take weeks ... it depends on the experts.

'But in terms of the short term emergency measures the airline industry is indicating that they expect by tomorrow to be in a position to start bringing people out with those measures in place.'

And Mr Hammond reiterated that he understood the frustrations of the Egyptian authorities about the decision to suspend flights, but said they understood it was taken out of 'the best of motives' and that they had been 'extremely co-operative'.

19 flights cancelled

Mr Hammond said 19 flights that were due to leave the UK for Sharm el-Sheikh today and would have brought tourists home have been cancelled, but airlines expect to bring holidaymakers back to the UK from tomorrow.

Emergency measures to screen everything going on to planes will last 'for as long as it takes' to bring people home, he told the BBC, adding that authorities on the ground will 'only allow those planes to take off when they are absolutely confident that the measures they have designed have been fully implemented and we can absolutely assure the safety of those aircraft'.

•Are you stuck in Sharm el-Sheikh? Contact our newsdesk at newsdesk@archant.co.uk