Peru has scrambled helicopters to evacuate some 2,000 tourists stranded in the Andes after torrential rains and mudslides killed 5 people and cut off access to Peru's ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
Tourists became trapped at the World Heritage site in the jungle in eastern Peru after the heaviest rains in the area in 15 years flooded the zone over the weekend.
An Argentine tourist and a Peruvian guide were killed along the trail in separate mudslides, the government said, while two other deaths were reported over the weekend. The fifth person was killed when a hillside collapsed.
Prime Minister Javier Velasquez, who visited the area yesterday, said some 250 homes were washed away by the rains, as well as bridges and parts of several highways.
Television images showed roads completely covered by fast-moving water and fallen rock. People sought to cross swollen rivers on foot, submerged up to their chests.
"The situation is chaotic," Washington Farfan, a guide at Machu Picchu, told Reuters by telephone from the site as tourists waited for a helicopter ride out.
"Unfortunately, the rescue effort has not been organized correctly. People are really upset right now," he added.
Machu Picchu, which was built in the mid-15th century and lies some 680 miles southeast of Lima, is Peru's most popular tourist destination. Roughly a million people visit the site, which sits around 7,874 feet above sea-level, each year.
The government declared a state of emergency and the company that runs trains between the Inca ruins and the nearby city of Cusco suspended services.
Aside from the train, the only way to reach the ancient Incan site is to trek some 28 miles through the mountains, a trip that takes on average 3 to 4 days.
"We're doing everything that's humanly possible to evacuate tourists," Trade and Tourism Minister Martin Perez told CPN radio.
He said the government was sending up to 10 helicopters to help in aid efforts, but that their arrival would depend on the weather.
"Everyone is fighting for a place on the helicopter ... The help we've received so far is not enough," a Peruvian tour guide told CPN radio.
An Argentine tourist told the same station that travellers' spirits were low and communication difficult.
"We have nothing to eat and have no idea for how much longer we're going to have water," he said.
Hugo Gonzales, Cusco's governor, estimated the cost of damages at around $280 million.
Reuters