Five Australians onboard trains in deadly crash near Machu Picchu
Images taken near Peru’s top tourist site show the badly damaged locomotives – which collided head-on – facing each other and people being treated on the sides of the tracks.
- Updated
- World
- South America
- Peru
Updated January 1, 2026 — 9.00am
Lima: Five Australians were onboard two trains that collided head-on in Peru as they were ferrying tourists to the Inca site of Machu Picchu, leaving one dead and at least 30 people injured, including foreigners.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in touch with the Australians involved and all are safe.
Police are investigating the collision, which killed a train worker. The trains were operated by Inca Rail SA and PeruRail SA, on a narrow section of track wedged between a rock face and lush forest.
The line is mainly used to transport tourists to the iconic site, which draws more than 1 million visitors each year. A health official said about 20 of those injured were in a relatively serious condition. A police officer added that foreign tourists were among the injured.
A head-on train crash on the route servicing Machu Picchu in Peru has left one dead and at least 30 injured, including foreign tourists.Credit: Facebook
One of the locomotives involved in the crash.Credit: Facebook
Images and video posted on social media shortly after the crash showed the badly damaged locomotives facing each other on the track and injured people being treated on the sides of a track hemmed between forest and a massive rock.
Niels Honkoop, a passenger on one of the trains, told the BBC it was a scene of “chaos”.
“I saw staff running around and people crying and people on the floor, and chaos erupted,” he said. “We got off the train, and I saw people bleeding with very severe injuries.”
According to the company operating the railway, a train coming from Machu Picchu collided with a train headed there in the early afternoon on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), near Qoriwayrachina, also an archeological site.
No further details about what caused the crash were immediately available.
Visitors to Machu Picchu mostly arrive by train to the nearby town of Aguas Calientes. Known for its perfectly fitting stone bricks, the site was built in the 15th century by the Incas and served as a sanctuary for the Inca emperors.