British students robbed in Guatemala

COBAN, Guatemala, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A group of 12 teenagers from a British school said they were tied to trees and robbed by bandits during a school trip to Guatemala.

The students, 16-year-old boys from the Skinners School in Tunbridge Wells, England, said the bandits forced them off a bus at gunpoint and fired shots over their heads before forcing them to empty their pockets, The Daily Mail reported.

The teenagers said the bandits used the students' shoelaces to tie them to trees in a snake-infested jungle.

Police arrived to rescue the students about four hours after the bandits left.

School officials said the students had just completed painting a Guatemalan school and a project to teach English to students in the country before boarding the bus for a trip into the mountains.

The bandits made off with an estimated $4,000 worth of cash, iPods, cameras, cell phones and other items.

The school administrators said they hope to have the teenagers flown back home Wednesday.