Coronavirus: stranded Aussies pay $5160 for a ticket home

Hundreds of stranded Australians will be repatriated from Peru after a private company agreed to charter a flight to Sydney.

Paige Greacen will board a charter flight to Sydney after a fortnight stranded in Peru. Picture: Instagram

Hundreds of stranded Australians will be repatriated from Peru after a private company agreed to charter a flight from Lima to Sydney.

But many say they were unable to secure seats on the flight and are now concerned about rising tensions in the South American country.

Among the estimated 400 Australians marooned in Peru, about 260 were scheduled to touch down in Sydney late on Monday via a flight organised by Australian-owned travel company Chimu Adventures.

Unlike the US and UK, the Australian government will not assist travellers with the cost of the economy-class ticket, worth $5160.

Paige Greacen said she had been stranded in the Peruvian city of Cusco for two weeks.

“DFAT has said they will not be organising any other flights for us, so this is our only option,” the 21-year-old said.

For those who will be left behind — including a six-month-old baby, a 96-year-old and an organ transplant recipient — unease is growing over the Peruvian government’s iron-fisted approach to the lockdown.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a seat on that flight,” Brisbane teacher Dan Swords said.

“It has been full now for about 12 days.”

The Australian government has repeatedly refused to charter a taxpayer-funded flight from South America, despite many travellers there arguing they were caught off-guard when Peru suddenly shut its borders a fortnight ago.

Multiple Australians stranded in the once-bustling tourist towns of Lima and Cusco say police are using brutal and occasionally violent tactics to enforce the country’s draconian lockdown laws.

In one incident, military officers carrying assault rifles stormed a hostel in Cusco and ordered scores of tourists, including Australians, out of the building and onto the streets.

The Pariwana Hostel in Cusco, meanwhile, has been barricaded by local authorities, with 146 guests and staff, including Australians, told they could face 10 years in prison if they leave.

“Homes seems further off now, possibly months. We are laying low as the situation here isn’t great and getting worse by the day,” said Travis Enright, 20.

The US, Canada, France, Germany, Israel and Brazil chartered emergency flights from Peru, while Ireland the UK, Switzerland and The Netherlands are poised to evacuate their citizens in coming days.

The Peruvian government caught travellers off-guard a fortnight ago when it imposed a nationwide curfew from 8pm to 5am and banned internal travel.