Rafters killed on Amazon

Police believe that two Japanese students plying Peru's Amazon river on a balsa raft were robbed and killed with machetes in a remote jungle region.Five people are in custody in Pebas, 700 miles from Lima.

Chiaki Ito, 22, and Takahiro Miyashita, 23, members of Waseda University's explorers' club, began their trip in November and were heading for Manaus, Brazil.

Fellow students became concerned after the two failed to call in earlier this month as expected. The students, who spoke no Spanish, were not accompanied by a guide. Police reportedly found their camera, sleeping- bags and some of the money they were carrying in the home of one of the five people, who are related.

AP - Lima