An Irish woman on holiday in Prague has allegedly been gang raped by six men in a hostel in the city’s famous old town, Czech media report.

Czech police spokesman Jan Danek said six men had been arrested and placed in custody on suspicion of rape, for which they could face up to 10 years in jail.

Several Czech media outlets quoted police sources as saying the victim was an Irish tourist, and describing the men as Algerians born between 1994-1998.

Mr Danek said the woman had met one of the alleged attackers on the night of Easter Sunday and agreed to go back to his room. Once there, she alleges he and his five friends raped her.

Local media quoted investigators as saying the woman had told them she feared for her life during the ordeal.

“On Monday at 7am the woman called the police and reported to them that she was raped in a hostel at Naprstkova Street,” Mr Danek told The Irish Times, referring to a small lane close to the Vltava river in the heart of Prague’s picturesque old town.

“The police assault team then came to the place and arrested all the men.”

Czech media showed footage of armed police officers in masks and helmets breaking down a locked door to a room in the hostel, handcuffing and frisking several men as they lay face down on the floor, and then dragging them out of the room.

The six men appeared before a Prague court on Thursday. Reports from the courtroom said the men denied the charges against them.

The Embassy of Ireland in the Czech Republic did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said it “wouldn’t comment on an individual case”.