Three people have been arrested in India following the gang rape of an American tourist.

It is believed the 30-year-old woman accepted a lift from the men on Monday night after failing to find a taxi to return to her hotel.

The woman told police the truck driver and two accomplices abducted her and took her to a secluded spot where they raped her for over an hour.

"Three men have been arrested in connection with the rape," said Vinod Dhawan, the police chief of Kullu district in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, where the attack happened.

The tourist has given officers a description of the men and also identified the model of the truck, which is commonly used to transport construction materials in the state.

Police said they had gathered forensic evidence and identified tyre marks from the scene of the attack. Roadblocks had been set up to check vehicles leaving the resort town.

The attack comes as India faces intense scrutiny over its efforts to curb violence against women following the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi last December. A survey by an Indian trade body earlier this year found the number of female tourists visiting the country had dropped by 35% following several sex attacks that made global headlines.

Further attacks included the alleged gang-rape of a Swiss cyclist in March.