Lima: Helicopters ferried out 475 tourists
stranded for two days near Peru's famed Machu Picchu citadel
after mudslides blocked a railway and killed a tourist and a
tour guide. Authorities hoped to evacuate up to 800 more
people today.
About 400 Americans and 700 Argentines were among the
initial 2,000 travellers stranded, and US authorities sent
four helicopters to bolster rescue efforts yesterday.
The tourists were cut off in villages near Machu Picchu
in the Andes mountains Sunday, when mudslides blocked the
railway to the city of Cuzco, which is the only way in or out
of the area.
People slept in Machu Picchu village's train station and
the central plaza after hostels ran out of space, while
restaurants raised prices as food became scarce. Travellers
"are angry and worried, and some are getting desperate," Ruben
Baldeon, the town spokesman, said yesterday.
Cuzco government spokesman Hernet Moscoso said an
Argentine identified as Lucia Ramallo, 23, and a Peruvian
guide, Washington Huaraya, were in their tents when a slope
gave way and crushed them yesterday.
The deaths raised to five the number of people killed by
rain-triggered floods and landslides in the area, Moscoso
said. The spectacular Incan ruins, perched on an Andean
mountaintop, are Peru's top tourist destination.
Three other tourists were injured on the Inca trail, a
popular trek that follows a stone path built by the Incas to
Machu Picchu.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 16:10