Concern grew for Hannah Almond, a fashion graduate from Grimsby in Lincolnshire, after she became stranded from her friends in Peru during a backpacking holiday
A British tourist who vanished in Peru has been found sleeping on the streets after being violently attacked and having all her possessions stolen.
Hannah Almond, 32, was discovered slumped on the pavement by a Good Samaritan days after she got separated from her pals in Cusco, a city in the Andes. Writing on a GoFundMe page, one friend described the breakthrough as “a huge relief”.
Hannah travelled to Peru in March on a yoga retreat to “find herself,” friends say. However, Hannah lost contact with her friends, and thugs allegedly moved in and burned her possessions. She lost her phone and passport and was left penniless after the attack.
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Fears for Hannah’s safety increased when she vanished after the same locals evicted from the spot where she had been sleeping rough with an elderly homeless man for a month. The traders were filmed pushing and threatening the former Leeds Beckett University fine arts student from Grimsby before she disappeared.
One witness said: “The aggressive ones on Ejercito Avenue… dragged and beat the foreigner. I will never shop at those stores again. She knocked on many doors and no one opened them, the grandfather was the only one who welcomed her with little or nothing that he had. She didn’t have anyone to give her a glass of water or a roof to sleep under.”
The story has made national news in Peru and speaking earlier this week, a family friend said: “She is one of the most pure loving souls ever – she is very generous and always wants to help people. But she does not trust anyone after getting robbed and assaulted. Some locals burned all her belongings from under the bridge.
“She was contacting her mum every now and then through other people’s phones. Police went to check on her two days ago and she has not been seen since. Cusco is a trafficking hotspot, so it’s very worrying.”
One post on the GoFundMe page reads: “She was robbed and assaulted, losing her passport, phone, and all of her money. Since then, Hannah’s mental health — something she has long struggled with — has severely declined.
“She is now in the midst of a mental health crisis, living under a bridge with a homeless man she befriended — the only person she currently trusts. Despite attempts to help her through official channels, Hannah is deeply fearful and unable to accept support from the embassy or local authorities. She is extremely vulnerable, isolated, and not safe living on the streets of Peru.”
Hannah, who is understood to be single, is no stranger to living abroad, having previously spent eight months in Portugal and travelled parts of Asia including Thailand and Vietnam.
When she’s at home in the UK, fun-loving Hannah regularly festivals like Creamfields with her pals, sharing photos of her antics on social media.
Mark Atkinson, the British Consul in Peru, told local media Hannah arrived in Cusco in early March as a tourist and did not plan to overstay her visa, but her immigration status is now in limbo. He added that despite their best efforts to help, she keeps going back to the bridge. “Sometimes we’ve paid for hotel stays, given her money for food, that sort of thing. But she always ends up coming back here.”
Thankfully, Hannah has now been found by a Good Samaritan, Piero Villanueva, who she had met briefly in Lima earlier in her trip. He flew to Cusco last week from his home to help in the search for Hannah. He posted selfie photos of the pair together as he confirmed she was “safe and well.”
Piero told a local TV station late yesterday: “I have just found her. She is safe and well. I’d like to thank the authorities and the people who contacted me to so I could help her.”
He added: “A friend of Hannah is arriving in Cusco today and I’m talking with him to be able to assist her. Hannah and her mum haven’t spoken yet. I’m talking with her mum but she’s an elderly lady and we don’t want to worry her anymore. Hannah recognised me and approached me crying and I asked her to leave with me. Thanks God she’s safe. We have to see now what’s going to happen, talk with Hannah’s mum and see what she wants to do.”
While a friend said: “It is a huge relief that she has been found, when she stopped contacting people we were worried she had been trafficked and we would never hear from her again. He (Piero) found her just asleep on the street, and one of her friends has flown out from the UK to Cusco to try and persuade her to come home. We want her home in the next few days.”
In an update on a GoFundMe page set up over the weekend to help bring Hannah back to the UK, a friend Sophie Wallace said: “Due the help of everyone sharing the story, Hannah has thankfully been found and one of her friends is on the way to Cusco to persuade her to accept support and come home.
“We know she has been refusing help due to the complexity of her mental health so it is most likely that she will need to placed into psychiatric care before getting a flight back. This is an ongoing process but we are doing all we can to bring her back safely.”
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