They also drained their bank accounts.
Atourist set out on a river cruise in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, but according to her account, the group ended up being kidnapped. On May 14, a group of 14 people was intercepted by armed robbers while on an all-day boat tour from Iquitos, Peru. The assailants robbed passengers on board.
Iquitos, located in the north of the country, is a port city and a common jumping-off point for Amazon river cruises.
TikToker Elisabet de la Almudena posted a video about the ordeal, captioning it, “Secuestrados en el Amazonas: Un Alerta Turística” (“Kidnapped in the Amazon: A Tourist Alert”). She said there were 14 tourists on board, including three children, and that the assailants forced them to transfer money from their bank accounts while being held at gunpoint. According to Almudena’s account, four armed men boarded the boat and sailed it deep into the rainforest. There, they robbed the passengers and forced them to transfer money online to their accounts. The robbers also took the boat’s motor, leaving the group stranded; they had to use pieces of wood to row the boat. They were eventually rescued after being found by another vessel.
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She also blamed the tour operator, Canopy Tours, saying they didn’t have any security protocols, despite similar incidents occurring in the past. She claimed it took the company more than two hours to realize the boat was missing. “We were completely abandoned by the people that were supposed to look after us,” she said in the four-and-a-half-minute video.
@elisabetdelaalmudenaNos secuestraron en el Amazonas. Contratamos una excursión familiar con Canopy Tours Iquitos y acabamos a punta de pistola, en manos de 4 hombres armados, en medio de la selva. Éramos 14 personas, entre ellas 3 niños y personas mayores. Nos retuvieron, nos quitaron todo y nos obligaron a transferir nuestros ahorros mientras nos apuntaban con armas. La empresa no activó ningún protocolo de seguridad, no había GPS ni seguro, y tardaron más de 2 horas en darse cuenta de que habíamos desaparecido. Esto no fue una experiencia aislada. La propia guía nos dijo que ya había ocurrido antes con otras agencias Lo denunciamos ante la policía, porque esto no puede seguir pasando. Cuento esta historia para que más personas estén alerta, para que las agencias turísticas cumplan con las medidas de seguridad adecuadas, y para que los cuerpos del Estado estén presentes y protejan la vida de los turistas y de las comunidades locales. Esto se tiene que saber. Compártelo. Que no se repita.♬ sonido original – • Elisabet🌻•Coach Energética
Meanwhile, Canopy Tours clarified on Facebook that the incident was an armed robbery, not a kidnapping, and that it was beyond their direct control. “This clarification does not seek to minimize the situation, but rather to defend the truth based on the correct legal terms.” The company also stated that authorities were notified immediately and that it offered assistance to those affected. The operator expressed solidarity with the victims and said it would strengthen safety measures by enhancing training, improving coordination with authorities, and implementing GPS monitoring.
A similar incident occurred in 2016, when a luxury riverboat was robbed in Peru’s Maynas province. More than 50 people were on board. Assailants shot at the boat and forced the captain to drop anchor; the captain sustained injuries when he was beaten. Eight masked gunmen entered the boat with firearms and stole $20,000 from the passengers and crew, but no one was seriously injured. At the time, it was at least the fourth such incident within a year.
The U.S. State Department advises travelers to exercise increased caution in Peru, which is under a Level 2 advisory. “Exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping.” The advisory also discourages travel to the Colombian-Peruvian border area in the Loreto region and the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM) due to crime.
