Peru evacuates 1 400 tourists from Machu Picchu amid protest

PERU evacuated some 1 400 tourists overnight from the train station that serves the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, while about 900 others remained stranded on Tuesday as protesters blocked the railway tracks, officials said.

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A Unesco World Heritage Site since 1983, the ancient fortified complex receives some 4 500 visitors on average each day, many of them foreigners, according to the tourism ministry.

Residents placed logs and rocks on the tracks on Monday to demand a new company be chosen to run the buses that ferry visitors from the Aguas Calientes train station, at the foot of Machu Picchu, to the site itself.

“We managed to evacuate about 1 400 tourists” stuck at the train station in an overnight operation before a fresh blockade on Tuesday, Tourism Minister Desilu Leon told RPP radio.