Cruise ships and excursions get police escort

After a cruise ship travelling through the Peruvian Amazon was attacked by pirates twice in a single week, the police are to intervene to keep the popular river trips safe.

An Aqua Expeditions vessel was attacked by bandits who were armed with grenades and guns, during a two week river cruise. After the first attack, two policemen joined the crew onboard, but during the second raid they were themselves overpowered by nine armed pirates.

Twenty tourists had their hands and feet bound by the pirates who then fled the scene during a running fight with police reinforcements. To guarantee the future security of river cruises and overnight excursions in the Amazon, which are a popular part of many cruise ship programmes, an intensive police effort is being mounted. From now on, both coast guard and police vessels will escort all tourist ships in the area, police will be stationed on each ship and there will be a mobile patrol station that travels the river and can be called on to make lightening support strikes if necessary. Aqua Expeditions said, ‘It's a shame for our country, for the passengers and crew. This has never happened in any other tourist trip and is a complete surprise for the whole travel sector.'