Passenger describes ‘chaos’ after head-on Machu Picchu prepare collision

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Tom Bennett

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/df66/live/4a54d630-e663-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters A woman screams as she exits a crashed train through the window. Others beneath her try to help, reaching up towards her. There is a clear sense of panic on their faces. Behind them, a crashed train and a large cliff. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Reuters A prepare driver was killed and at the least 40 others had been injured within the crash on Tuesday

A passenger has described "chaos" after two trains collided head-on close to Peru's hottest vacationer attraction, Machu Picchu.

Niels Honkoop, 33, informed the BBC he had switched seats part-way by means of the journey from the center of the prepare to the again, earlier than it crashed, injuring lots of these sitting close to the entrance.

"I noticed employees operating round and other people crying and other people on the ground and chaos erupted," he mentioned. "We acquired off the prepare and I noticed folks bleeding with very extreme accidents."

A prepare driver was killed and at the least 40 others had been injured within the crash, which happened at round 13:20 native time (18:20 GMT) on Tuesday.

Mr Honkoop mentioned the desk in entrance of him broke in two. Shattered glass littered the ground of the carriage, and lots of had been mendacity wounded within the aisle. One lady he noticed was trapped "between a bench and a desk".

He tried to help by transferring baggage and handing out painkillers, as, by coincidence, "I would had a knowledge tooth eliminated not too long ago so I had a lot of painkillers on me".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/888c/live/0ebe52f0-e658-11f0-a8f2-d9e8fba7dc3b.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images Rescue workers transport an injured person alongside a rail line. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP by way of Getty Photographs The UK Overseas Workplace mentioned it was "supporting quite a few British nationals concerned" within the crash, whereas the US embassy in Peru mentioned that US residents had been injured.

After the crash, Mr Honkoop mentioned one other prepare arrived with medical help. He and his tour group had been taken to a close-by village the place they got meals and medical care and brought to a lodge.

The collision occurred on the monitor linking Ollantaytambo Station and Aguas Calientes, the closest city to Machu Picchu. The journey between the 2 stations often takes round 90 minutes.

The 2 trains concerned had been operated by PeruRail and Inca Rail respectively.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e144/live/a72cb3b0-e667-11f0-8e2a-3df90dbf71c4.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Niels Honkoop Niels Honkoop and his friend smile at the camera. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Niels Honkoop Niels Honkoop (proper) described the accident as "chaos"

"We deeply remorse what has occurred," PeruRail mentioned in an announcement, including that its employees had "instantly" supplied first help to the prepare driver, the prepare conductor and the passengers concerned within the incident.

The reason for the accident has not but been made clear.

It comes amid an ongoing dispute between suppliers of transport to the Unesco world heritage web site, with native communities sad with what they are saying is an insufficiently open bidding course of.

The trains and buses that take vacationers to the traditional city have steep ticket costs and could be extremely profitable for operators attributable to its restricted accessibility.

Constructed within the Peruvian Andes within the fifteenth Century, the Incan metropolis of Machu Picchu is likely one of the Seven Fashionable Wonders of the World.