Spanish vacationers robbed through armed ‘river pirates’ in Peruvian Amazon

A Spanish vacationer has recounted how an armed gang calling themselves “river pirates” robbed her and her circle of relatives aboard a ship travelling down the Amazon River in Peru.

In a video on TikTok, one of the vital vacationers, Elisabet de los angeles Almudena, mentioned she skilled the “worst day of her life” on 14 May, when 4 armed assailants preserving pistols and one device gun boarded the boat she used to be travelling on along with her oldsters and six-year-old daughter. She mentioned the gunmen pressured them to open banking apps on their telephones and empty their accounts.

“We contracted a family tour, a sightseeing tour,” she mentioned, including that they had been taken additional into the jungle after being robbed and had been left stranded there for an hour.

“The hardest part was when these people boarded the boat. Through mobile phone applications, they asked us to take the money out of our accounts and transfer it to one of their accounts, otherwise they would not leave,” she added.

De los angeles Almudena mentioned there have been about 14 Spanish vacationers at the boat, together with youngsters and aged other people, who had been all launched shaken however unhurt after the ordeal.

She mentioned {that a} native circle of relatives discovered them stranded and helped them get again to Iquitos, the place they arrived within the early hours of the morning.

She additionally alleged that the excursion corporate, Canopy Tours Iquitos, didn’t have an emergency protocol or a GPS unit at the boat.

In a observation on Tuesday, the excursion operator Canopy Tours Iquitos mentioned the incident used to be past its keep an eye on and “was reported immediately to authorities”.

“From the beginning, we activated our emergency protocols, offered our assistance to the affected group and have been actively cooperating with the investigation,” the observation mentioned.

The corporate additionally mentioned it used to be bettering its safety features in keeping with the incident, together with GPS tracking, and used to be operating extra carefully with the River Police.

The corporate and Spanish embassy in Peru may just now not be right away contacted through the Guardian.

The possibility of armed theft is low in Peru, alternatively, the US state division has warned its voters to “exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping” in positive portions of the rustic.