Johannesburg - A US tourist was robbed while departing Johannesburg's OR Tambo International airport by taxi, the SAPA news agency reported Thursday, citing the Star newspaper.

Hartmut Detler, 69, told the newspaper he was being transported in a taxi from the airport to Sun City on Wednesday when a gang of armed men forced the vehicle off the road.

Detler and the taxi driver, Geoffrey Maladzhi, were tied up and told to lie down in the tour operator's minibus.

Detler was robbed of his watch, a camera the equivalent of 300 dollars.

The hijackers abandoned the vehicle when they could not remove its tracking device.