About thirty tourists, including 13 Italians, were injured in Peru following an accident involving a bus traveling between the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu and the nearby town of Aguas Calientes. Among the injured taken to hospital in Cuzco, six Italians are said to be in serious condition. The Farnesina is already in contact with the families of the compatriots involved.
According to the reconstruction of the local police, the driver lost control of the vehicle, which went off the road while he was descending from Machu Picchu in a zigzag that leads to the historical site, falling into the void for about 15 meters. “We have 30 injured tourists: they have all been taken to Cusco”, he said said a Peruvian police official, according to the agency Ansa. The local newspaper The Peruvian specifies that the traffic accident occurred between turns 6 and 7 of the Hiram Bingham Highway. Immediately after the accident, authorities and local residents rushed to the aid of the tourists to allow them to reach the nearest health center. On board the vehicle involved were citizens of Peru, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, China and Japan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has Done to know that “the Italian embassy in Lima has taken action to provide maximum consular assistance to our fellow countrymen”. Our diplomatic representation is “in contact with the families” of the people involved, while the vice prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani has already been informed of the incident.
Machu Picchu is the oldest legacy of the Inca Empire that ruled a vast swath of western South America for a hundred years before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. The ruins of the Inca settlement were rediscovered in 1911 by American explorer Hiram Bingham and in 1983 were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
