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At least 10 Americans have been released from a Peruvian riverboat after being held hostage in “grim” conditions by a machete-wielding indigenous group protesting an oil spill.
More than 200 people – including children and pregnant women – were detained on Thursday after a group of indigenous protesters took them hostage.
All the prisoners were released on Friday and no one was injured. They left on a boat called the Eduardo 11 and are on their way to Iquitos, according to… Al Jazeera.
Indigenous chief Watson Trujillo also said they would continue to block the river until the government helps to clean up the pollution.
According to Aljazeera, he has asked President Pedro Castillo to declare a state of emergency over the oil spills.
A representative at the US embassy in Lima said they are “aware of reports that all passengers have been rescued.”
At least 10 Americans have been released from a Peruvian riverboat after being held hostage in ‘grim’ conditions by a machete-wielding indigenous group protesting an oil spill (Photo: hostages on the boat)
More than 200 people – including children and pregnant women – were detained on Thursday and released around 2:30 p.m. Friday
Indigenous chief Watson Trujillo also said they would continue to block the river until the government helps to clean up the pollution.
The hostages came from a variety of countries, including the US, UK, France, Switzerland and more.
After being released at 2.30pm local time on Friday, retired Briton Charlotte Wiltshire, 54, has since spoken out about the ‘creepy’ circumstances they faced.
Speak with the mirror, Wiltshire, from Cardigan, Wales, said: ‘We entered this village and were suddenly surrounded by several boats carrying men with sharpened poles and machetes. There was a lot of shouting.
“They got on board somehow, they took the batteries out of the boat. More and more people with machetes came on the banks.’
She remembered hearing them scream in Spanish, but said she couldn’t understand. However, a local on the boat translated that they were giving a speech about pollution, lack of infrastructure and government.
Wiltshire said the detained tourists – from the UK, Spain, France, the US and Switzerland – ranged in age from a young baby to a 70-year-old.
She had been traveling around South America for about four months with her partner Ken Wiltshire, 52, and her son Luke Bunker, 28. She wanted to experience travel like a local and remembered taking sleeper boats with hammocks across the country.
The former hostages left on a boat called the Eduardo 11 and are on their way to Iquitos
The hostages were left with little food and water and more than 100 were crammed together
The family had traveled inland from Manorca to Yurimaguas in hopes of taking a series of boats to Belem in Brazil.
They had met their guide at a hostel in Taracota, who led them to the start of the Amazon boat trip – where they boarded Wednesday afternoon.
Despite the boat leaving that evening, the family was taken hostage – along with the other tourists – at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday less than 24 hours later.
Recalling the circumstances, Wiltshire added: “When you’ve squashed 120 people into a very small space, you get tense because everyone just gets tired of the situation.”
She said they were given 40 liters of water Friday morning, but it didn’t last long as it was shared by 120 hostages.
Briton Charlotte Wiltshire, 54, and husband Ken Wiltshire, 52, spoke out after their capture
Angela (pictured) had been on a bike ride through the Peruvian jungle for eight days when they tried to travel by boat through the Cuninico River today and were stopped
But after being imprisoned for a day without water or electricity, Trujillo announced the end of the hostage situation.
Angela Ramirez, another detainee, previously said, “We spent the night here. We already have almost no water to drink, the sun is shining very strongly, babies are crying, the youngest is only a month old, pregnant women, the disabled and the elderly are on board.
“Now we have no electricity to charge our phones, nor water to wash ourselves. Please help me share.’
Angela had been on a bike ride through the Peruvian jungle for eight days when they tried to travel by boat through the Cuninico River and were detained.
In a previous post she said: ‘Help me publish, we are an indigenous community of the jungle in Cuninico, we are hostages of the community as there were 46 oil spills, which killed two children and a woman.
The tourists were part of a group of 70 travelers who also came from France, Spain, the US and Switzerland when they were held up on their riverboat
“They are FRIENDLY AND RESPECT us, but it’s the only way they’ve found to find solutions for their community.
“The sooner they are heard, the faster they will let us go… Help me share, we are doing well physically. Help me help them be heard.’
The protesters reportedly told the hostages that they were capturing them to draw the government’s attention to the leaking Norperuano pipeline that spilled more than 30 oil between 1996 and 2006.
The leaks have polluted their rivers, streams and food production.
It leaked twice in September on September 5 and 16, affecting the Nacion Chapra area and the Cuninico community.
“We are committed to taking this measure to attract the attention of a state that has not paid attention to us for eight years,” Trujillo said, according to Aljazeera.
“People have had to drink water and eat petroleum-contaminated fish without the government caring.”
Blood samples from the region taken in 2016 showed that citizens had high levels of mercury and cadmium.
“The children have those poisons in their blood. People suffer from stomach problems, that’s every day,” said the chief.
Peru’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Alessandra Herrera Jara, said a state of emergency was declared on September 24.