MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rains and mudslides strand 1.900 tourists in Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is one of the most popular destinations with 400.000 visitors a year (AP)

Flooding and mudslides near Peru's Machu Picchu archaeological citadel have killed at least seven people and stranded 1900 tourists. An operation to airlift the foreigners out of the south-eastern disaster zone was suspended because of heavy rain after just 75 were flown out by helicopter.

It has been raining heavily in the area since the weekend and forecasts indicate more it still to come.

Two men drowned in a swollen river, another died in a landslide, and a mother and her child were killed in the town of Cusco when heavy rainfall made their home collapse, emergency officials said. All were believed to be local Peruvians.

Local media also reported a 23-year-old Argentine tourist and his 33-year-old Peruvian mountain guide died as they were trekking the Inca Trail, a famous Andean pathway that leads to Machu Picchu.

Peru's presidential chief of staff Javier Velasquez travelled to Cusco with emergency-level ministers and officials to evaluate the situation and coordinate rescues.

The country's civil defence service said it estimated the homes of 1300 people in poor rural areas - many of them riverside dwellings made of clay and straw - had been destroyed. Another 12,000 people were affected to a lesser degree, losing possessions or suffering property damage.

In the former Inca capital Cusco, where a 60-day state of emergency has been declared, two bridges collapsed and 250 houses were destroyed.

Machu Picchu is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Latin America, attracting more than 400,000 visitors a year. The 15th-century Inca ruins are located on a high mountain ridge 70km from Cusco. A railway that transports tourists to the site was covered by a mudslide.

Following the closure of the railway the Peruvian government ordered a rescue operation for the 1.900 stranded tourists at Machu Picchu, mostly Europeans and from the US. Four government helicopters plus two from private companies are involved in the operation.

Local authorities believe another 670 tourists and trekkers could be stranded in the Inca Trail.

Chileans tourists caught by the rains have complained that the helicopters as indicated have given preference to the over sixty, but also have been open “to those willing to pay for the ride back to civilization”.

Furthermore food is short and tourists have been left on their own to organize rations while aid allegedly is flown in.