Lima, Jan 27 (DPA) Close to 2,000 tourists remained trapped near the world-famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu due to heavy rain and mudslides that have claimed six lives in the southern Peruvian region of Cusco.
Tourists regularly visit Machu Picchu, in the municipality of Aguas Calientes, and return to Cusco, the nearest city and the regional capital, for the night.

A mudslide led Sunday to an interruption of the railway that regularly links Aguas Calientes and Cusco, leaving tourists trapped near the Andean citadel. The small tourist town did not have enough hotel beds for all the day visitors, most of them foreigners, and some have had to use tents or sleep at the station.

Since Monday Peruvian authorities have been deploying helicopters to evacuate those affected by the interruption of the railway service.

Peruvian Tourism Minister Martin Perez said Monday that authorities planned to evacuate the people affected to the village of Ollantaytambo, from where they could proceed to the city of Cusco, the capital of the Andean region of the same name.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the US had provided four helicopters to help with the evacuation of about 400 US citizens. US embassy personnel were moved to the area from the capital Lima to assist the Peruvian police and military.

Heavy rain has continued, causing damage to homes and making rivers overflow their banks. It also appeared to be threatening Machu Picchu itself.

“The Vilcanota river, 15 km from Machu Picchu, flowed over its banks, and there have been four or five collapses of structures in this Cultural Heritage (area),” Cusco Mayor Luis Flores said Monday.

Marco Ochoa, president of the Association of Tourism Agencies in Cusco, estimated at between $750,000 and $1 million the sector’s daily losses from the shut down of the regular tourism flow. The railway is the only means of getting from Cusco to Machu Picchu, Peru’s main tourist destination and as such a major source of income.

Peruvian authorities declared a state of emergency in Cusco and the neighbouring region of Apurimac.