Two tourist trains traveling on the railway to Peru’s famed archaeological site of Machu Picchu collided on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring dozens, prompting authorities to suspend rail services on the busy route.
The victim was a railroad worker, according to Jhonathan Castillo Gonzalez, a captain with the Cuzco police department.
He told The Associated Press that the railway suspended services along the rail line connecting Machu Picchu with the nearby city of Cuzco after the accident.
According to the company operating the railway, a train coming from Machu Picchu collided with a train headed there in the early afternoon near Qoriwayrachina, itself an archaeological site.
Reuters reported that the trains collided head-on on the railway leading to the Inca citadel, Peru’s top tourist destination.
Police are investigating the collision between trains operated by Inca Rail S.A. and PeruRail S.A., which mainly transport tourists to the iconic site.
A health official said about 20 people were in relatively serious condition, while overall injuries were estimated at around 30 to 40 passengers. A police officer added that foreign tourists were among the injured.
“No further details about what had caused the crash were immediately available,” authorities said.
Videos and images shared by local media and on social platforms showed train cars with broken windows and dented sides stranded along a rail line squeezed between lush forest and massive rock formations.
Other images showed badly damaged locomotives facing each other on the track, broken glass strewn around, and injured people being treated beside the rails.
Machu Picchu receives around 1.5 million visitors per year, most arriving by train to the nearby town of Aguas Calientes. Known for its perfectly fitting stone bricks, the 15th-century Inca site served as a sanctuary for the empire’s rulers.
Visitor numbers to Machu Picchu have risen by about 25% over the past decade, though tourism has periodically been disrupted by political unrest and disputes over site management, with protesters at times blocking the railway leading to the ancient citadel.
The site can also be reached on foot, with visitors trekking from the small town of Ollantaytambo on a journey that takes about four days.