Axe-wielding villagers hold Britons in Peru

Fourteen British holidaymakers on the trip of a lifetime to Peru were taken captive and held for nearly five hours by angry villagers who mistook them for surveyors from a mining company.

The tourists were visiting a remote part of the South American country when their bus was surrounded by about 50 local people brandishing pickaxes, metal bars and poles.

The villagers yelled threats and pelted the vehicle with rocks and branches, smashing windows and doors, before forcing the terrified holidaymakers from the bus.

They were led away and forced to sit on the ground, while the Peruvian driver and two other Peruvians, one of whom was the group’s guide, were hit with sticks.

The holidaymakers, who were on a two-week tour costing about £2,000, were then berated by the villagers, who accused them of being thieves who had come to steal their natural resources.

The incident ended only when the villagers realised they had attacked the wrong people.

After the situation had calmed, the Peruvian guide called the police from her mobile phone and arranged for another bus to collect the tourists.

Their ordeal on Monday took place in the village of Pumaorcco as they were driving back to the town of Sicuani, in the province of Cusco.

The group – men and women aged from 22 to 65 – were trying to experience a taste of Peruvian rural life at a farm that raises alpacas, a relative of the llama.

One of the Peruvians on the bus, Isable Surco, reportedly told a Peruvian radio station that all the tourists had been savagely beaten.

But Luca Newbold, the director of  UK-based Llama Travel, which organised the holiday, said he had spoken to the holidaymakers and none of them had been physically hurt or robbed.

'We have been operating for six years and have never had an incident like this.

‘They said the vehicle was completely wrecked and windows were broken with various objects and that the locals used very threatening behaviour,’ he said.

‘The interrogation lasted about four and a half hours. They were left very shaken.

‘The holidaymakers said they wanted to try to put the experience behind them and continue their holiday. We are very concerned about this serious incident.’

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said the British consulate in Peru had spoken to a number of the holidaymakers and was satisfied that they had not been hurt.

The tourists, who come from Kent, Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, Norfolk and Gwent in Wales, are continuing their holiday, which includes visits to the capital Lima, Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu.