Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Passengers and crew stand along the track where the trains crashed, near Machu Pichhu

About 15 tourists have been injured near Machu Picchu in Peru after two passenger trains collided on Tuesday, local authorities say.

The trains, owned by rival companies, crashed en route to the country's most visited tourist attraction - the ancient Inca citadel.

It is still not clear what caused the collision. Police said investigations were under way.

Machu Picchu attracts more than a million visitors a year.

The passenger trains belonged to competing local operators, Peru Rail and Inca Rail.

Peru Rail confirmed the collision on Twitter and released a statement in Spanish saying that emergency protocol had been followed to evacuate those affected.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Part of the damage sustained by one of the two tourist trains

One of the passengers on the Inca Rail train told local media that the accident occurred due to a protest on the tracks that forced the train to halt for an hour.

Police and the train operators are yet to confirm this allegation.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption It's still not clear what caused the collision

The citadel of Machu Picchu, located 2,500m (8,200ft) above sea level, is the most famous monument of the Inca empire, which ruled Peru until the 15th-Century Spanish conquest.

Often referred to as the "lost city of the Incas", the World Heritage Site is thought to have been built around 1450 AD.</s>At least 13 people - mostly foreign tourists - have been injured after two trains collided in southern Peru.

The crash happened a few miles from the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu.

It appears one of the trains was forced to stop because of a protest in the area.

Clint Bertucci was on board when the crash happened.</s>Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A train crash near Machu Picchu, an Inca citadel and popular tourist site in Peru, injured more than a dozen tourists Tuesday.

Peru's Ombudsman' Office reported 15 people hurt from the crash on the Machu Picchu railway. Two were critically hurt.

Officials said the accident occurred when two trains from different operators collided.

A statement from Inca Rail, one of the two train companies, identified one tourist in serious condition as a Chilean national.

"Due to the situation, emergency protocol was followed evacuating the affected persons to ambulances so that they could receive the needed medical attention," PeruRail said in a statement. "After assisting the injured, an investigation will be carried out to determine what caused this unfortunate accident."

An Inca Rail passenger said one train was forced to stop because Peruvian protesters had gathered in the area, Andina reported.</s>LIMA, Peru — Two trains have crashed near the ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu, an archaeological site in Peru visited by thousands of tourists each year.

There’s no immediate confirmation from government officials on how many people have been injured or their conditions.

Images posted on social media showed two tourist trains pressed against each other on a rail track and broken glass behind one set of seats.

Other videos and photographs showed tourists with backpacks making calls on cellphones and sitting on the ground beside the trains.

RPP News reported the incident happened at about 10 a.m. Tuesday. One witness said one of the trains had stopped because of a protest in the area.</s>At least 23 people have been injured as two passenger trains heading to the famed 15-th century ruins in Peru's Cusco Region collided on Tuesday. Many of the people hurt in the crash are reported to be foreign tourists.A Peru Rail train bumped into the rear of an Inca Rail train several dozen kilometers from the world-famous tourist attraction near the town of Ollantaytambo on Tuesday morning at around 9 a.m.The photos of the incident show the windows of a carriage shattered and its metal frame damaged from the impact.Machu Picchu municipal authorities have confirmed that five people have been badly injured in the incident, three of them were transferred to a hospital in Urubamba Province, while the others were taken to the city of Cusco, the historic capital of the Inca Empire.Many among them are foreign travelers.While police have launched an investigation into the incident,A witness told state-run Andina news agency that the Inca Rail train was stranded for nearly an hour as police worked to remove a group of local demonstrators."We stopped for an hour, then the protest was cleared, the train continued its route, and five minutes later we felt a strong impact on the back. It was a Peru Rail train that hit us," Valeria Lozana said.A group of about 30 Peruvian tourists, who were unable to buy train tickets to Machu Pichu, blocked the tracks, police stated after the incident.Despite speculation that the delay caused by the protest might have led to the collision with the incoming train, Machu Picchu authorities dismissed this version in a statement.</s>Several foreign tourists have been injured in a collision between two passenger trains near Peru’s most popular tourist site – the Inca citadel Machu Picchu.

The accident on Tuesday took place when trains operated by two competing rail companies crashed on the principal route to the ruins from the village of Ollantaytambo, near Cusco, in southern Peru, said local police.

At least 10 people were injured in the collision, five of them seriously, said Peru’s civil defence institute.

Witnesses said a train operated by PeruRail hit from behind a train operated by IncaRail, another rail operator which takes tourists to the Unesco world heritage site.

Social media posts showed the two trains shunted together on a railway track.

Other images showed shattered glass on a leather seat and another set of seats hanging outside a carriage.

IncaRail said only one of its passengers, a Chilean woman, had been injured in the accident and the rest would continue their trip to Machu Picchu.

PeruRail said injured people were taken away in ambulances and it was investigating the cause of the incident.

However, at least one passenger on the IncaRail train told local news outlets that the train had stopped because of a protest which had blocked the railway tracks.

“We stopped for an hour, then the protest was cleared, the train continued its route, and five minutes later we felt a strong impact on the back. It was a PeruRail train that hit us,” Valeria Lozana told the state news agency Andina.

Police are investigating whether the protest was carried out by a group of Peruvian tourists who were not able to board the train at a point where it is reserved for local communities who pay a discounted fare.

Visitor numbers have boomed to Machu Picchu in recent years, topping 1.4 million people in 2017 – an average of 5,000 people a day during July and August, double the 2,500 visitors recommended by Unesco.</s>Nearly a dozen people, including several foreigners, were injured when two trains collided Tuesday near Peru’s most popular tourist destination, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu.

The two competing train companies crashed along the main route transporting tourists to the Unesco world heritage site in Ollantaytambo village, the reports.

Peru’s civil defense institute said at least 10 people were injured in the passenger train collision, five seriously.

It remains unclear what caused the collision.

Eyewitnesses told the that a train operated by PeruRail collided into the backend of a train operated by IncaRail.

Before the crash, a group of Peruvian tourists reportedly stage a protest over being unable to board the train at an entry point reserved for locals.

“We stopped for an hour, then the protest was cleared, the train continued its route, and five minutes later we felt a strong impact on the back. It was a PeruRail train that hit us,” Valeria Lozana told the state news agency Andina, according to the ‘s translation.

Pictures posted to social media showed the shattered glass and blown out windows of one of the train carriages. Other images captured the trains smacked together on the tracks.

IncaRail said only one of its passengers, a Chilean woman, was injured in the collision, while PeruRail said some passengers were taken away in ambulances.</s>A number of tourists were injured when a train crashed into the rear of another near the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, officials said.

Police are investigating the cause of Tuesday's accident, which occurred along a popular tourism route from the village of Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu in southern Peru.

At least 13 people were injured, most of them foreign tourists, said Eulogio Farfan, a police chief in the nearby town of Urubamba.

A police officer in Ollantaytambo, Edson Quispe, said there were 23 injured in the collision.

Farfan said a train operated by PeruRail S.A., owned jointly by Belmond Ltd and Ferrocarril Transandino S.A., struck a train operated by IncaRail, another railway service that takes tourists to Machu Picchu, Peru's biggest tourist site.

IncaRail said only one of its passengers, a Chilean woman, had been injured in the accident and the rest would continue their trip to Machu Picchu.

PeruRail said it activated its emergency protocol to evacuate the injured by ambulance and would investigate the cause.</s>About 15 tourists have been injured near Machu Picchu in Peru after two passenger trains collided on Tuesday, local authorities say.

The trains, owned by rival companies, crashed en route to the country's most visited tourist attraction - the ancient Inca citadel.

It is still not clear what caused the collision. Police said investigations were under way.

The passenger trains belonged to competing local operators, Peru Rail and Inca Rail.

Peru Rail confirmed the collision on Twitter and released a statement in Spanish saying that emergency protocol had been followed to evacuate those affected.

One of the passengers on the Inca Rail train told local media that the accident occurred due to a protest on the tracks that forced the train to halt for an hour.

Police and the train operators are yet to confirm this allegation.

The citadel of Machu Picchu, located 2,500m (8,200ft) above sea level, is the most famous monument of the Inca empire, which ruled Peru until the 15th-Century Spanish conquest.

Often referred to as the "lost city of the Incas", the World Heritage Site is thought to have been built around 1450 AD.</s>With its spectacular mountain and rainforests, ancient cultural heritage and growing reputation for culinary superfoods, Peru is continuing to experience an eco-tourism boom.

The nation expects 4.4m tourists to bring $5bn into its economy this year - 10% up on last year’s 4m visitors - according to the PromPeru exports and tourism promotion board.

Yet widespread ecological destruction, economic hardship and guerrilla wars in the latter part of the 20th Century mean this is a comparatively recent phenomenon that required vision and leadership.

“In the early 1970s, ecology was not much talked about in Peru,” says Jose Koechlin von Stein, who co-produced Werner Herzog’s classic films Aguirre, The Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo in Peru in 1972 and 1982.

In 1975, Koechlin set up Inkaterra, a company devoted to pioneering ecotourism and sustainable development in Peru.

Starting with the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica luxury lodge in the Peruvian rainforest, the company now also operates the Hacienda Concepcion and Inkaterra Guides Field Station.

It has luxury eco-hotels in Cusco, the Machu Picchu cloud forest and Urubamba in Peru’s Sacred Valley, as well as a Machu Picchu hotel under the mid-priced “By Inkaterra” brand.

Together, these employ 600 people and host 200,000-240,000 travellers a year.

However, Inkaterra prefers to use other metrics to chart its success - species spotted, nurtured and preserved for mankind.

In its 43 years, a total of 814 species of bird, 365 types of spider, 313 kinds of butterfly and more than 100 mammals have been painstakingly logged within its grounds.

The discoveries have included 28 species new to science including 19 orchids, five amphibians, two bromeliads and a butterfly and tropical vine.

Inkaterra’s Machu Picchu hotel also hosts 372 species of orchid, its own organic farm and a rescue center for the spectacled bears made famous by the Paddington books and films.

“Everything is based on inventories,” says Koechlin. “Most hotels have them for beds, chairs and the tubes of shampoo in the shower. Ours are for flora, fauna and wildlife.

“The first thing we do is learn about where the hotel is, undertaking environmental and cultural assessments so that we know what to compare ourselves against in the future and measure how our presence has improved the area.

“People talk about sustainability but you have to know what it is that you want to sustain.

“We never had any idea of how big ecotourism could become. The world has changed so much in the past 40 years that it would have been impossible to imagine the revolution that has happened.

“But Peru is changing rapidly. There are now 30-40 lodges in the Peruvian rainforest. The challenge is to preserve as much as we can.”

“Everything is different now,” agrees Marisol Mosquera, founder and president of Aracari, a Peru-based travel agency group which offers eight-day trips from London to Lima’s artistic Hotel B, the ancient city of Cusco, Sacred Valley, Urubamba and the 15thCentury Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.

The trips are not cheap, at £3,245 ($4,260) per person but Mosquera says she has remained true to her original vision of pioneering high-quality experiential travel in Peru.

In 1996, where she set up the business on returning to Peru from ten years working in financial services in New York and London, she says Peru was starting to recover from ten years of intense guerrilla warfare but was attracting few visitors outside the backpacker community.

“Compounded by the economic crisis of the 70s, this meant there were no public investments in infrastructure for nearly three decades,” she recalls. A diaspora of talent in the 1970s and 1980s.made matters even worse.

From the mid-1990s, a recovery got under way, however. A new airport opened in Lima in the late 1990s; infrastructure has been vastly improved and a plethora of new hotels have opened.

A culinary revolution promoting Peruvian cuisine began around ten years ago, airline connectivity has improved and hotel standards have been revolutionized, according to Mosquera..

“When I scouted new locations in Peru between 1996 and 1999, I discarded 90% of the product I visited and checked” she says.

“Now it’s the opposite. There is so much product out there and a lot of it is very good quality.”

Mosquera is now planning expansion to offer tourism services in Bolivia. Sheremains optimistic about the prospects for Peru’s ecotourism but wants more Government and private sector investment in wildlife and flora preservation, prevention of logging and involvement of local communities.

Koechlin believes this is vitally important too. Inkaterra’s latest project in development at Cabo Blanco on the Northern Peruvian coastline aims to protect marine and bird life and provide work for impoverished fishermen.

It has located, acquired and refurbished a boat that Ernest Hemingway used for sport fishing and wants to use the location to promote and protect the local environment.

“Whatever we may do for birdwatching in the area will be a means to growing our ecological research and understanding and providing jobs in conservation,” he says. “That is always our objective.”
In Peru, two trains collide en route to Machu Picchu, injuring 15.