'No Charges Yet' In St Lucia Rape Case

Police on the Caribbean island of St Lucia wrongly announced they had charged six men with the rape of two British women.

The victims, aged 24 and 31, were attacked by a gang of masked men on an isolated stretch of beach in the northeast of the country on May 10.

Police initially said in a statement that six detained men had been charged.

But they later corrected this, saying "several" suspects were still being questioned.

They women were volunteering on a wildlife conservation project run by an British-based charity when the late-night incident occurred.

Officials said the two women were working on a project organised by the charity and St Lucia's Ministry of Agriculture.

The island's government has launched an investigation to determine how they came to be alone on Grande Anse beach at midnight, a ministry official said.

British High Commissioner Karl Burrows described the attack as "a dreadful crime".

He advised British visitors to exercise caution as they would anywhere else, saying that crimes against British tourists were not widespread on the island.

Around 67,000 British nationals visited St Lucia last year.