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A British tourist has died and dozens of holidaymakers and locals injured after a coach crashed and tumbled down a mountainous road in Peru.
Tourists and five Peruvian nationals were travelling to the Montaña de Siete Colores, or Mountain of Seven Colours, on Sunday afternoon.
As the coach was driving along the Carretera Panamericana Sur, or Highway 1, by the farming community Tintinco, Cusitapa at around 3pm local time, it crashed.
Photographs and footage from the scene show the badly damaged vehicle tipped over to one side, its front windshield shattered.
National police commander Harnner Horna, head of the Cusco Tourism Police, told TVPerú Noticias that a British citizen, 32, died in the crash.
He said: ‘This is a British citizen… he was transferred to the Urcos morgue. We have already informed the Consulate to carry out the procedures.’
The coach tipped over several times, local media reported (Picture: PNP)
La República reported that the man had been trapped under the bus after it flipped several times.
It remains unclear if his next of kin has been informed. The British consulate has been notified.
A second British tourist aboard the coach injured in the crash was also identified by regional police.
Regional police named 16 foreign nationals from Poland, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Chile and the Czech Republic as among the casualties.
Five Peruvians, all from Lima, were also injured in the crash.
Horna said the casualties have been taken to two local hospitals for treatment for fractures and contusions and – five were discharged on Monday.
The tourists and locals were on their way to see the ‘Rainbow Mountain’ in the Peruvian Andes (Picture: Getty Images)
Local reports have put the number of those injured as high as 28, with police struggling to identify riders due to a lack of passenger manifest.
The bus driver, Manuel Navidad Casillas Cachira, 37, has been detained amid a police investigation.
Police said the tourist company that operated the bus, named ‘Rainbow Mautan Trek Perú’, had not been authorised to transport holidaymakers.
Standing 16,000 feet above sea level, the Mountain of Seven Colours is known to locals as Vinicunca or the Rainbow Mountain.
The almost Photoshopped-looking tourist destination is lined by bands of soil the colour of turquoise, lavender and gold in the Andean mountain valley of the Cusco region, the home to Machu Picchu and other ancient sites.
For vacationers, getting there involves a two-hour drive from the city of Cusco, a three-and-a-half drive through Pitumarca followed by a 1.5-mile walk to the hill.
The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
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They were on their way to see the ‘Rainbow Mountain’.
