The Peruvian authorities have been examining what they believe are the bodies of two Japanese students who were robbed and killed while attempting to row down the Amazon river on a balsa-wood raft. Earlier, 16 Peruvian soldiers were arrested in connection with the killings, which are thought to have taken place in October, shortly after the two students set off on their voyage. Here's one of our South America correspondents, Stephen Cviic:

To row down the Amazon river is the dream of many of the world's adventurers and the two Japanese students, Chiaki Ito and Takahiro Miyashita, were attempting to do it the hard way, in a balsa-wood raft with a canopy of dry leaves.

Their aim was to negotiate the Amazon all the way from the Peruvian city of Iquitos to the port of Manaus in Brazil.

However, their colleagues back in Tokyo became worried after the two men failed to return home earlier this month and it now appears that their worst fears have been confirmed.

The Peruvian authorities say they believe the students were robbed and hacked to death by a group of soldiers whose job it was to control river traffic along part of the Amazon.

Reports in the Peruvian media say some of the arrested soldiers led police to the spot in the jungle where the two victims were buried and postmortem examinations should soon reveal whether these are indeed the bodies of the students.

As well as being a tragedy for the family and friends of the two dead men, this incident is highly embarrassing to the government of President Alberto Fujimori.

He is himself of ethnic Japanese origin and has tried to encourage investors from across the Pacific to put more of their money into Peru. These efforts received a major set-back last year when left-wing rebels seized the Japanese embassy in Lima.