'Got woken up early for Rio carnival .. by pistol in my face' GAP YEAR BRITS' BRAZIL TERROR.

Byline: BY RICHARD SMITH

SEVEN British teenagers told yesterday of their armed hostage hell at a hostel in Brazil.

The gap-year students were among 34 tourists tied up and held at gunpoint for two hours on the eve of the Rio de Janeiro carnival.

Some were beaten up and one woke with a robber holding a grenade to his face whispering: "Boom, boom."

Luckily no one was seriously hurt but the gang fled with valuables and cash.

Kit Regan, 19, wrote on his Facebook site: "Woke up to a 9mm in my face.

"At 4am about seven men with revolvers, one guy with a grenade, stormed the hostel, tied us up and nicked our money, phones, cameras. Pretty scary."

Mate Bertie Herrtage, 18, revealed: "I thought they were just guys off the street, but then they had guns. We stood in the corridor while they rounded up everyone else. Then we all got filed into an empty dorm and we were locked in there."

Rollo Skinner, 18, who was woken by gunmen slapping his face and demanding cash, added: "They went through our rooms with knives cutting open the bags, breaking off the locks, taking the cameras, phones, iPods and money. But they left us with our passports."

Ben Mace, 18, said: "I was just hoping that no one would do anything stupid and try to be a hero."

The friends had arrived in Rio just 48 hours earlier as part of a round-the-world trip before university.

The seven boys including Beanie Isle, Louis da Costa and Rowley Thompson are former pupils of posh pounds 24,000-a-year Sherborne School in Dorset.

Ben's dad David said: "We had a dramatic call from the boys.

They had a very lucky escape indeed."

Seven men with revolvers and one with a grenade stormed hostel

KIT REGAN, 19

CAPTION(S):

ORDEAL Beanie, Rollo, Ben and Bertie before their trip