One of the two trains affected after a head-on collision connecting Machu Picchu with Ollantaytambo is pictured in Pampacahua, Cusco Department, Peru, on December 30, 2025. CAROLINA PAUCAR / AFP
A head-on collision between two trains on the line that services Peru's Machu Picchu killed one person and injured at least 40 others, authorities said on Tuesday, December 30, updating an earlier toll. The deceased was the conductor of one of the two trains, according to the prosecutor's office in Cusco, the city closest to the famous Inca citadel.
Officials said they were working to identify the injured train passengers, many of them foreign visitors and most of them seriously hurt. The cause of the accident was not yet known.
Videos sent by passengers to the RPP television channel showed injured victims lying next to the tracks with two damaged locomotives standing idle nearby. A dozen ambulances and medical personnel were rushed to the site in a remote Andean area without direct road access. Police wearing hardhats and neon-colored jackets carried injured passengers on stretchers from the trains to receive treatment.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, the ancient fortified complex of Machu Picchu receives some 4,500 visitors on average each day, many of them foreigners, according to the tourism ministry.
