Two tourists assaulted in Rio TWO foreign tourists have been held for hours, brutalised and one of them sexually assaulted aboard a public transport van they boarded in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach district, police say. Two men aged 20 and 22 have been taken into custody and a third is being sought in connection with the incident, in which the two foreigners were held for about six hours starting shortly after midnight on Saturday, police said in a statement on Monday. The statement said the suspects forced other passengers to get out of the van and then sexually assaulted the female tourist inside the vehicle, which was one of a fleet of vans that serve bus routes and seat about a dozen people. During the alleged assault, the tourists were driven to the poor suburban district of Sao Goncalo, where the two suspects were apprehended, the statement said. The victims' nationalities have not been released, but local media reports have said the woman is American. Reports said the two had been studying Portuguese in Rio for about a month and that both left the country following the incident. The incident raises new questions about security in Rio, which has cracked down on drug violence in preparation for hosting next year's soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. The attack also drew comparisons with the fatal December beating and gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus. Six men beset a 23-year-old university student and male friend after they boarded a private bus, touching off a wave of protests across India demanding stronger protection for women. In Brazil, more than 5,300 cases of sexual assault were reported between January and June 2012, according to the country's Health Ministry.