A BOURNEMOUTH woman found herself stranded in Peru after being caught in a national state of emergency.

Stephanie Kidd, 30, of St Peters Road, went travelling in South America, however was left with no way home after Peru closed flights to Europe.

Ms Kidd said: “On March 14 I was doing a four-day trek. At about 5.30pm on the 13th the tour got in contact and said it was cancelled.

“The next day I got up and was not too sure what was happening. Peru were closing flights to Europe.

“I thought I’d just travel for 30 days. The government then advised against travel from Peru. It was a national state of emergency on the 15th.”

Ms Kidd said she was put on lockdown with the rest of the travellers she had met and had until 12pm to get out the country.

“There’s about 400 people from the UK stuck here. You are not allowed out the hostel,” she continued.

“My trip was ending in May, I am not going to continue with travelling and the government has advised against it.

“I have been facetiming my family, they have been saying to come home at the first opportunity.”

Ms Kidd said being stuck indoors took a few days to get used to, and the most stressful part was not knowing the situation.

“After the two weeks of quarantine is over, it will still be stressful, we don’t know what is going on,” she added.

“We are on the other side of the world. Why aren’t they helping 400 people in Peru?”

Ms Kidd said she has signed up for a number of courses to “pass the time.”

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said he has secured permission for a UK-organised flight to leave Peru for the UK in the coming days.

Following a call with the Peruvian foreign minister, Dominic Raab said: “I had a good conversation this afternoon with my opposite number in Peru, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra. Amidst all the challenges of tackling coronavirus, we committed to working together in the coming days to enable UK nationals in Peru and Peruvian nationals in the UK to return home.”

A spokesperson for the foreign and commonwealth office said: “We are working round the clock to make flights available next week for British people who wish to leave Peru but who are currently unable to do so on commercial flights because of the travel restrictions that have been imposed.”