MORE than 100 tourists including Brits have reportedly been taken hostage in the Amazon rainforest by a group of indigenous protesters.

The group of 150, including pregnant women, children, the elderly, and the disabled, were captured as they tried to cross the Marañón river in northern Peru.

Others among the captured include American, Spanish, French, and Swiss citizens, as well as a number of Peruvian nationals.

Indigenous residents of the local Cuninico tribe say they are protesting the Peruvian government's lack of aid following a recent oil spill in the river.

Sources claim the captors have said they will hold the hostages for up to eight days.

Watson Trujillo, the leader of the Cuninico community, told RPP Radio they had kidnapped the group because they wanted to "catch the government's attention with this action".

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He added that "this drastic measure" had been taken in order to force the government to send a delegation to assess the environmental damage caused by the oil spill.

The leak, which took place on September 16, spilled approximately 2,500 tonnes of crude oil into the river.

One of the South American country's largest pipelines, it was built four decades ago to transport crude oil 800km from the Amazon region to Piura, on the Pacific coast.

Peru's government declared a 90-day state of emergency on September 27 for the affected area within the Cuninico and Urarinas communities, home to some 2,500 indigenous people.

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Indigenous groups have been blocking the passage of any boats down the river since Thursday to protest the leak, which was caused by a rupture in the Norperuano (ONP) pipeline.

The state-owned Petroperú company, which controls the pipeline, has blamed the leak on sabotage to the pipe.

It claims that its workers discovered "an intentional tear of 21cm in the pipeline".

Petroperú has reported 10 separate attacks to its pipelines in Loreto region this year, all of which have caused oil spills.

Ángela Ramírez, the daughter of Araceli Alva, who is one of the detained, has spoken to the press.

"They told us that it was because they sought the State's attention to solve the oil spill 46 times and that as a result there are now two deceased children and a woman," she told the Peruvian publication "Las Cosas como Son".

She added that her mother had told her the youngest on board was a one-month-old baby, while disabled people, pregnant women, and the elderly were also being held.

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The detained passengers are being held on the boat overnight, while the tribal leader told RPP Radio he intends to return to the boat later on Friday to assess the possibility of releasing some of the hostages.

The Sun Online has approached the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for comment.

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