Peruvian authorities launched an investigation into a deadly train wreck near Machu File after trains operated by two rival companies collided head-on in a remote area. Photo by Ernesto Arias/EPA-EFE
Dec. 31 (UPI) — The driver of a train was killed and at least 40 passengers, including American tourists, were injured when two trains collided head-on near the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in southern Peru.
The trains operated by two different rail companies were on the same narrow-gauge line when the crash occurred at the busiest time of day, Tuesday afternoon, near Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu, with no roads nearby, the BBC and El Comercio newspaper reported.
The engineer killed was an employee of Inca Rail. The other train was operated by PeruRail.
Inca Rail said in a statement Wednesday that it was “deeply saddened” by the loss of one of its team and that it was cooperating fully with investigating authorities.
Expressing “deep regret,” PeruRail said in a news update that the injured were evacuated from the crash scene in two railcars to the nearest road, about 10 miles back down the line to Piscacucho station, from where 10 ambulances transported them to hospital in Cusco.
“We deeply regret what has happened. PeruRail staff immediately provided first aid to the train driver, the train conductor and the passengers, activating emergency protocols and mobilizing medical personnel to attend to the most urgent cases.”
Those hurt included Peruvian and foreign tourists.
In a transportation alert, the U.S. Embassy in Lima confirmed that U.S. citizens were among those injured and that services along the Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes section of the railway remained suspended.
Footage and images circulating online show two wrecked locomotives in a narrow, rock-walled canyon with chaotic scenes of injured passengers on the ground as others escape from cars via the windows.
An investigation was underway with prosecutors in Cusco looking at human error and signal or mechanical failures as possible causes.
Track operator Ferrocarril Transandino said services on its 75-mile South-Eastern Cusco-Machu Picchu-Hydroelectric Plant line would be suspended “until the evacuation of passengers is complete and the trains are removed from the tracks.”
In July 2018, 15 tourists were injured when two Inca Rail and PeruRail trains were involved in a similar collision.
Tuesday’s crash comes amid ongoing wrangling over area transportation, including rivalries between bus providers who take visitors on the final leg of the journey from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, and the price of trains from Cusco, with a round-trip ticket costing as much as $2,000.
Built around 1450, about 1.5 million visitors a year make the journey to the “lost city of the Incas” and World Heritage Site, which sits at an altitude of 8,200 feet in the Andes.
Overcrowding is a growing challenge with exploding visitor numbers in recent years, along with climate change placing more stress on infrastructure and the environment, triggering protests and feeding into political instability.