Britons among 70 boat passengers detained by group in Peru, local media report says | World News

Boat passengers – including British tourists – are being detained by a community group in the Peruvian Amazon to protest the government’s inaction to tackle the oil spill in the river, the vehicle reports. local media.

The group – believed to be members of an indigenous community – from the Urarinas district in Loreto province, said their action was to draw attention to the issue, Peruvian news agency RPP Noticias reported.

It reported that 70 passengers, including foreign nationals from the UK, US, Spain, France and Switzerland, were detained after sailing on the river.

These include one-month-old babies, people with disabilities and pregnant women, the report said.

Protesters claimed two children and a woman were killed in the area by oil spilling from a 40-year-old pipeline in the Cuninico River.

Community members have told local media they plan to keep tourists for about six to eight days.

Officials have come to the area to settle the dispute.

One of the foreign nationals being detained raised the alarm on Facebook.

“The faster they are heard, the faster they will let us go. Help me share, we are physically fine. Help me help them be heard,” she wrote on Facebook.

Communities in the area blocked vehicles on the river in protest.

The latest spill of an estimated 2,500 barrels into the Cuninico River took place on September 16.

The 500-mile pipeline is owned by state oil company Petroperu, which in a statement at the time said the spill was the result of “intentional” damage.

The pipeline has been the site of several oil spills in recent years.