Gunmen rob British women tourists

Lucy Marks, Maude Harris and Shanna Barker were woken by three hooded men shouting and waving around a pistol and rifles.

They were the only tourists onboard a night bus from Sao Paolo to the Iguazu Falls in Brazil in the early hours of Friday 13 this month.

The gunmen forced the driver to take the bus into remote woodland before one of them pointed his gun at 22-year-old Miss Marks' head and shouted "dollars, dollars".

She gave him all her money, £70, and managed to slide her passport and debit card down the side of the seat to keep them safe.

The gunmen made all the men strip to their underwear and then marched some of the passengers, including Miss Marks, off the bus.

Miss Marks, from Poole in Dorset, told the Daily Echo Newspaper in Dorset: "I thought perhaps they had chosen to kill us but they forced us into a baggage compartment."

She added: "I could hear women crying and a couple of older ones were getting hysterical."

One of the robbers opened the door to the dark compartment and held up an identity card before dragging the owner outside and beating him up.

Half an hour later they were all ordered back on to the bus where Miss Marks was reunited with her friends. Her phone, watch, money, iPod and camera had been stolen and her sunglasses smashed.