Train crash near Peru's Machu Picchu kills one, injures 40

PAMPACAHUA

A head-on collision between two trains on the line that services Peru's Machu Picchu killed one person and injured at least 40 others, authorities said, updating an earlier toll.

The deceased was the conductor of one of the two trains, according to the prosecutor's office in Cusco, the city closest to the famous Inca citadel.

Officials said they were working to identify the injured train passengers, many of them foreign visitors and most of them seriously hurt.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, the ancient fortified complex of Machu Picchu receives some 4,500 visitors on average each day, many of them foreigners, according to the Tourism Ministry.

Most tourists take a train and a bus to reach the historic site high in the Andes mountains.

Rail agency Ferrocarril Transandino said a train operated by PeruRail collided with another belonging to Inca Rail around lunchtime on the single track that links the town of Ollantaytambo with Machu Picchu.

The cause of the accident was not yet known.

In September, about 1,400 tourists were evacuated from the Aguas Calientes train station that serves Machu Picchu and 900 others were left stranded after protesters blocked the railway tracks with logs and rocks.

Locals were demanding a new bus company be chosen in a fair bidding process to ferry visitors to the foot of Machu Picchu.