LIMA: A helicopter carrying more than a dozen foreign tourists, including several from South Korea, has gone missing in a jungle area of the Cusco region of southeastern Peru, police said yesterday.
“We have information from the company that the aircraft was carrying 11 South Koreans, two Austrians and a Peruvian,” Cusco police chief General Hector Dulanto told AFP.
“We hope the helicopter was able to make an emergency landing.”
Local media said the South Korean and Austrian passengers were making a visit to the Machu Picchu architectural marvel, one of the world’s most famous tourist sites.
The helicopter, run by Heli Cusco, disappeared in the Hualla Hualla region at an altitude of 4,725 meters (15,500 feet), about 140 kilometers (90 miles) from the tourist city of Cusco.
Police have launched a search for aircraft and its occupants, but have been slowed by bad weather, Dulanto said.
“Snowfall at dawn has hampered the progress of the patrols,” he said, adding that a police helicopter would join the rescue effort once the storm had passed.
The tourist helicopter left the city of Mazuco, in the southeastern region of Madre de Dios, late Wednesday headed for Cusco.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists descend on the Cusco region every year to visit Machu Picchu, a 15th century Incan city perched on a mountain high above the town of Aguas Caliente.
11 S. Koreans, 2 Austrians missing in Peru helicopter
