Hundreds airlifted from Peruvian site

MACHU PICCHU PUEBLO, Peru (AP) — Skies cleared over the fabled Machu Picchu citadel Thursday, speeding the evacuation of stranded tourists, many of whom were left to eat from communal pots and sleep outdoors after weekend flooding and mudslides cut access to the area.

By nightfall, helicopters ferried 975 more people out of this remote village, the closest to the Inca ruins 8,000 feet up in the Andes mountains. Chief Cabinet Minister Javier Velasquez told Lima’s RPP radio that only 600 tourists remained in town.

More than 2,000 travelers were trapped for days, straining supplies and testing travelers’ patience.

Authorities hoped the good weather would hold so they could get the rest of the tourists out today.

But the Machu Picchu site will remain closed for weeks, until the government can repair highway and railroad tracks washed out by mudslides and the raging Urubamba River.