Peru official: 2 missing Americans are safe

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru's tourism minister says he has spoken with the young Californian reported missing with his girlfriend for more than a month before officials located them in the Amazon jungle this week.

Minister Jose Luis Silva told a news conference that Garrett Hand laughed a lot after Silva told him about all the commotion he and girlfriend Jamie Neal caused by failing to notify relatives of their whereabouts.

After relatives mounted a publicity campaign, including on Facebook, Peru sought out the couple and a police officer in an Amazon jungle hamlet positively identified them Tuesday.

Peruvian authorities then dispatched two officials to try to catch up to the two 25-year-olds from the San Francisco area before they reached Ecuador, where they were bound by boat up an Amazon tributary.

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