Australians are among more than 300 tourists stranded at the remote Machu Picchu world heritage site in Peru after violent political protests broke out in the country.
Protesters blocked the only train line in and out of the area by triggering landslides to cover tracks with large rocks and helicopter evacuations are suspended because of poor weather.
It is understood very limited train services resumed in the last few hours but can only take tourists part-way to the nearest city of Cusco because of track blockages and tourists will need to hike or find other transport for the remainder.
Some tourists are attempting the 40km trek to the next town in the hope trains to Cusco will be more accessible from there.
A group of Australians stranded in Machu Picchu tell how they have no way of leaving the area
Political protesters have blocked train tracks which provide the only access into and out of the area with some tourists attempting a 40km hike to the next town
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Machu Picchu is extremely popular with tourists
‘I believe that’s my best chance for catching my flight out of the country but that’s over an eight hour trek,’ stranded Australian Alex Cauchi told 9News.
‘You know we are trying to hide our money in case the protesters come and then figure out how we get from Ollantaytambo to Cusco and then from Cusco to Lima and if we have flights,’ fellow traveller Monique Spurr said.
Janelle Nicholson, who is travelling with her visually impaired husband, spent a fortnight volunteering at a non-profit in the area but the couple is also now also stranded.
She said they applied for seats in a helicopter to evacuate them but are being pushed down the list for elderly or injured people.
‘There’s no hospital here so they get priority and I understand that,’ she said.
Sydney woman MacKenzie Reynolds said she did not know how she could leave the area.
‘The railways have been destroyed by protests, they’ve stolen parts of it, they’ve blocked parts with boulders,’ she said.
‘There’s actually no roads that come in and out of this town.’
MacKenzie Reynolds (left) and other Australians (right) are hoping helicopters could lift them out
Helicopter evacuations were suspended yesterday amid poor weather
Workers attempt to remove a boulder from the train line to the Incan citadel
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian embassy in capital Lima has received 170 requests for assistance from Australians in Peru.
‘Many of those are in city of Cusco and Machu Picchu, where transport options are limited,’ a statement from the department said.
There have no reports of Australian injured or caught up in the civil unrest, the department said.
However access to food and medications for stranded tourists could become a concern if access to remote area like Machu Picchu remains blocked.
The protests, in which Peruvian authorities say 17 people have died, were sparked when leftist President Pedro Castillo tried to illegally dissolve Congress but was impeached and arrested.
Protestors take over the Pan-American highway in the Northern Cone of Arequipa following the announcement by Peruvian new President Dina Boluarte of her intention of presenting a bill to parliament to advance the scheduled general elections from April 2026 to April 2024
New President Dina Boluarte, the former vice-president, said she is leading a transitional government and urged the country’s Congress to pass a proposal to bring forward general elections.
Protests since the arrest of former President Castillo, who is in pretrial detention while facing charges of rebellion and conspiracy, have crippled Peru’s transport system, shuttering airports and blocking highways.
On Wednesday, Boluarte’s government announced a state of emergency, granting police special powers and limiting citizens’ rights, including the right to assembly.
‘We want the immediate closure of Congress; we want the resignation of Dina Boluarte,’ Rene Mendoza, a protester at the border with Bolivia, told Reuters.
‘The whole of Peru is in a struggle.’
Supporters of former President Pedro Castillo protest demanding his release and the closure of the Peruvian Congress in Lima
