British pupils robbed at gunpoint in Guatemala
(06 August 2008)A dozen teenage schoolboys are waiting to return home after being held up at gunpoint on a school trip to Guatemala.
The 12 teenagers and two teachers were travelling on a private bus in the Guatemalan jungle when a group of bandits ambushed the coach.
The bandits hauled the party off the coach and fired shots into the air, before stealing £2,000 worth of mobile phones, iPods, cameras and money. The group were then tied up with ropes and left in the jungle.
Luckily, one child managed to wriggle free and untie the others, allowing the group leader to activate an emergency satellite beacon, which alerted police to their location.
The 16-year-old boys and two teachers, from Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, are awaiting a flight home after cutting short their month-long expedition.
Headteacher Simon Everson defended the decision to send the boys to Guatemala, which has one of the highest crime rates in Central America.
“We have got to give our boys challenging experiences and allow them to help people less fortunate than themselves. If we retreated as a result of this incident then we would be victims of the bandits twice over”, he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
The incident occured around 2100 local time on Friday, near the central city of Coban.
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