MAGALIESBURG, South Africa (AP) — A Portuguese photographer was held up at gunpoint early yesterday and two other journalists were also robbed at the same World Cup hotel.

Antonio Simoes said he woke around 4:00 am and found two men entering his room at the Nutbush Boma Lodge outside of Magaliesburg, 120 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg.

“One of the guys pointed a hand gun at my head, and then they took all my gear — cameras, lenses, laptop,” said Simoes, who works for the Portuguese daily O Jogo. “Then they told me to lie on the bed and they covered me with a blanket, pressed the gun against my head and told me to sleep.

“The whole thing took one or two minutes, but it felt like hours,” Simoes told The Associated Press.

Simoes said the three cameras and gear the thieves stole was worth about euro30,000 ($35,000). They also took euro3,500 in cash as well as his passport and a pair of jeans.

Police recovered his World Cup accreditation — without which a journalist can’t cover the tournament — near the hotel. Simoes said he plans to stay in South Africa and hopes to borrow cameras to work during the competition.

Spanish journalist Miguel Serrano, who works for the Spanish sports newspaper Marca, and Rui Gustavo Morais were also robbed, but they slept through it. The three were staying in a detached four-room lodge that looks out over the Magaliesburg Mountains.