A trip to Chile by nearly 2,000 UK scouts is still due go ahead despite Foreign Office advice against non-essential travel because of the row over General Pinochet.

The group of 14 to 18-year-old boys and girls from all over the UK are due to take part in a 10-day World Scout Jamboree which begins at the end of December.

They have each paid �2,300 to take part in the meeting, which is held in different parts of the world every four years and will be attended by 28,000 scouts from 140 countries.

The scouts will be staying in tents in Picarquin, 60 kilometres from the capital Santiago, where there has been rioting since the House of Lords decision that Pinochet was not immune to prosecution as a former head of state.

The unrest has already led the British embassy to close its consulate in the coastal city of Valparaiso.

Scout Association spokesman Nick Higgins said on Friday: "We are still hoping to go but a lot depends on the situation on the ground in Chile and the advice we get from the Foreign Office.

Rioters have been attacking British targets

"It would be difficult to go against Foreign Office advice."

He added: "There is a certain amount of concern of course, but on the whole the impression we are getting is that the participants are still very keen to go and their parents and scout leaders are very keen as well."

No one had dropped out of the trip so far, he added.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that it was currently advising Britons against non-essential travel to Chile because of the "highly volatile" situation.