Peruvian authorities say firefighters managed to control a forest fire near the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu after three days battling the flames.
The blaze near one of the world's most famous archaeological sites broke out on Tuesday, killing about 100 acres of land, the equivalent of about 50 football pitches.
The fire, which Peru's culture ministry said engulfed a remote area about 6 miles from the spectacular high-altitude citadel, was reportedly sparked by farmers who had been clearing land to grow crops.
Roberto Abarca, director of the Cusco risk management and security office, told Reuters on Thursday that they had already been fighting the forest fire for two days and it has not been possible to get it under control, given the area is quite inaccessible.
The fire had been 90% tamed by dozens of firefighters and police officers on Thursday night. They claimed Machu Picchu had not been affected.
It has been possible to contain the fire the mayor of the Machupicchu district, Darwin Baca Le n, told the Peruvian radio station RPP. The mayor said that firefighters were still working to control some smaller outbreaks in the mountains that remain active. The blaze comes as the South American tourist destination tries to recover from the devastating effects of the coronaviruses, which claimed more than 200,000 Peruvian lives.
In early 2020, Peru's tourist industry and Machu Picchu went into shutdown as Covid ripped across the globe, claiming millions of lives and wreaking havoc on economies.
On Thursday, Peru's culture ministry said that tourist activities at Machu Picchu had not been affected by the fire this week and no deaths were reported to have been lost.
Machu Picchu became world-famous around a century ago after an American academic and explorer announced the discovery of a lost city in the clouds. Hiram Bingham said the stunning stonework and abundance of stone dwellings made him suspect that the Andean city might be the largest and most important ruin discovered in South America since the days of the Spanish conquest Bingham offered the name Machu Picchu for the area he had rediscovered and brought to global attention. A recent academic paper questioned whether that was in fact the right one.
The authors said the Unesco world heritage site had actually been known as Huayna Picchu, after a mountain peak above the ruins, or simply Picchu.