An Australian who was stranded in Thailand has described mayhem and rioting at the military airport being used to fly foreigners home after anti-government protesters blockaded Bangkok's international airport.
The NSW woman, who did not wish to be named, said she feared being crushed as thousands of foreign travellers - some becoming aggressive and intoxicated - crammed into the Utapao military airport, with many forced to wait up to 11 hours with no water.
Her story comes as Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed frustration with Thailand's failure to quickly evacuate stranded Australians, after protesters seized control of the Suvarnabhumi international airport last Tuesday and the smaller Don Muang domestic airport last Wednesday.
Australian authorities have been negotiating with Thai counterparts to put on more flights from Utapao, about 150km from Bangkok, and the tourist resort of Phuket, about 900km away.
An emergency Qantas flight tonight will fly home hundreds of Australians from Phuket, after the Government and airline had arranged bus transport for passengers from Bangkok to Phuket.
However, there were long delays at Utapao airport, and Australia's Ambassador had visited the airport to "press Thai authorities to address issues affecting operations", a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said.
The Australian woman, in Bangkok for work, said Qantas arranged to take her by bus to the military airport for a specially chartered flight home.
She had waited up to eight hours before being able to board her flight home, she said.
"But it wasn't really the wait, it just wasn't functioning, it was stretched to capacity," she said.
About 3000 people were crammed into the airport, which she was told could only handle 10 flights a day, and had just one set of steps from the departure lounge to the boarding gate.
As the crowd kept building, and the wait prolonged for already frustrated passengers, she feared being crushed.
"It was a very dangerous situation - it was packed, we were trapped in this departure lounge with nowhere to go," she said.
"They kept letting people in, at any time it could have turned. I was shielding behind an X-ray machine.
"They'd taken water off people as a security measure, so everyone was without water. Some people had been there for 11 hours without water.
"[Airport authorities] would then bring in some water and people would just riot for the water ... these badly behaved foreign tourists."
Many in the crowd were men, "half of whom had been drinking ... you could get alcohol duty free but couldn't get water.
"And then they brought in these heavily armed military guys because there were this group of passengers who really started bellowing ... they were waiting the longest and had started to get angry.
"I think it's fair to say passengers were traumatised - people have never seen, never experienced anything like that in their lives."
The passenger has now returned safely to her home on the South Coast.
Other Australians who managed to get on planes out of the military base have complained that the flights were returning to Australia only half full.
Mr Smith said the main problem had been "logistical difficulties" in people being able to get access to the airports.
"We have been becoming very frustrated with the Thai authorities, particularly Thai airline authorities and tourism authorities," he told AAP.
"We are working with Qantas to get as many stranded Australians back to Australia as soon we can.
"But the two main airports in Bangkok are still closed, so we are looking to use a military airport 150km away and one in Phuket."
Mr Smith said once extra flights were organised to take Australians home, officials would organise buses to take the stranded tourists on the long journey to either Phuket or Utapao.
In the meantime, he hoped the political turmoil gripping Bangkok would be resolved peacefully.
"We are urging a peaceful and political resolution to it and the last thing we want to see is a military resolution," he said.
- with AAP