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A train crash on the line to Peru’s famed Machu Picchu kills 1 person and injures at least 30

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Two trains taking tourists to Peru’s famed archaeological site of Machu Picchu crashed on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring around 30 passengers.

The person killed was a railroad worker, according to Jhonathan Castillo Gonzalez, a captain with the Cuzco police department. He told The Associated Press that the railway suspended services along the rail line connecting Machu Picchu with the nearby city of Cuzco after the accident.

According to the company operating the railway, a train coming from Machu Picchu collided with a train headed there in the early afternoon, near Qoriwayrachina, also an archeological site.

No further details about what had caused the crash were immediately available.

Videos on local media showed train cars with broken windows and dented sides stuck along a rail line hemmed in between a lush forest and a massive rock.

Machu Picchu gets around 1.5 million visitors per year, mostly arriving 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 nation’s emperors.

The number of people visiting Machu Picchu has increased by about 25% over the past decade, but tourism in the area has also been affected by political turmoil and disputes over how the site is managed, with protesters sometimes blocking the railroad that leads to the ancient site.

Machu Picchu can also be reached on foot, with visitors trekking from the small town of Ollantaytambo. The trek takes about four days.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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