Machu Picchu mudslide kill 5, strand 1900 tourists

Flooding and mudslides near Peru's historic ruins of Machu Picchu have killed at least five people and stranded 1,900 tourists, emergency services said Tuesday.

An operation to airlift the foreigners out of the southeastern disaster zone hit was suspended because of heavy rain after just 75 were flown out by helicopter.

Two men drowned in a swollen river, another died in a landslide, and a mother and her child were killed in the town of Cusco when heavy rainfall made their home collapse, emergency officials said. All were believed to be local Peruvians.

Local media also reported a 20-year-old Argentine tourist and his 33-year-old Peruvian mountain guide died as they were trekking the Inca Trail, a famous Andean pathway that leads to Machu Picchu.

Police told AFP they were trying to verify those two deaths, and had sent a patrol along the trail.

Peru's presidential chief of staff Javier Velasquez traveled to Cusco with emergency-level ministers and officials to evaluate the situation and coordinate rescues.

The country's civil defense service said it estimated the homes of 1,300 people in poor rural areas -- many of them riverside dwellings made of clay and straw -- had been destroyed. Another 12,000 people were affected to a lesser degree, losing possessions or suffering property damage.

In Cusco, where a 60-day state of emergency has been declared, two bridges collapsed and 250 houses were destroyed.

Machu Picchu is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Latin America, attracting more than 400,000 visitors a year.

The 15th-century Inca ruins are located on a high mountain ridge 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Cusco. A railway that transports tourists to the site was covered by a mudslide.