Two trains carrying tourists to Peru's famed ancient city of Machu Picchu collided early Tuesday, leaving at least five people injured, including two critically, local media reported.
The accident along the rail route linking the nearby town of Cusco with the Inca archaeological site occurred around 10:20 a.m. local time (1520 GMT) "when a train belonging to the Inca Rail company was crashed into by another belonging to PeruRail," state news agency Andina reported on its website.
The first train had made an unscheduled stop "because a group of local tourists were protesting and blocking the rail line," according to a passenger.
"We were stopped for about an hour. Then the protest broke up, the train continued on its way and after five minutes we felt a strong impact from the back (of the train)," Valeria Lozana told the agency.
"Two of Inca Rail's train seats went flying," she added.
Images of the accident showed several train car windows had been shattered because of the collision.
The group of 30 protesters were angry about not being able to buy train tickets to the archaeological site and decided to block the rails, the agency said, citing police sources.
The two passengers who were seriously injured were to be evacuated to Cusco.
Each day, some 2,500 local and international tourists visit Machu Picchu, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site situated in southern Peru's mountainous Andean region.
