Machu Pichu tourists stranded after landslide

About 1,400 tourists and local residents were stranded near Peru’s famed Inca ruins of Machu Picchu today after an overnight landslide knocked out 440 yards of train track, blocking a primary route into the area, authorities said.

The government said it planned to send helicopters to evacuate tourists.

“There are no people hurt,” Aurora Prato, a PeruRail spokeswoman, said.

But she said about 1,400 passengers, including tourists and local commuters, were waiting for transport in Aguas Calientes, a small town in the gorge below the archaeological site.

Landslides occur almost every year around the site and are usually cleared within a day or two.

Machu Picchu, Peru’s top tourist destination, sits atop a craggy peak in a jungle-shrouded valley 315 miles south east of Lima in the southern Andes.

Visitors usually reach Machu Picchu from Cuzco, 40 miles to the south east, either by a direct, five-hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, or by catching the train in Ollantaytambo, which lies in the Sacred Valley midway between the two locations.

The only other route is by foot; organised hikes take two to four days.