At least four tourists were killed and 16 others were injured returning from a visit to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, when the minibus they were traveling in crashed into a cliff on the highway, it was announced on Monday the Peruvian authorities (22).

Among the injured are four French, two Greeks, two Israelis, two Canadians, two Argentinians, two Peruvians, a Dutchman and a Spaniard, according to an official statement issued in Cusco. The dead are three Colombians and a Peruvian.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez, told a press conference in the city, alongside regional authorities, that the fall occurred on an escarpment of just over 100 meters.

The 16 injured were transported to two hospitals in Cusco. Among them is the driver, a Peruvian national.

The accident happened on Sunday evening (21), in the region of Abra Málaga, 105 km from the city of Cusco. “There was fog at the accident site. We regret such a tragic event,” Sánchez said. In an interview, the local police chief pointed out the difficulty of the search.

“We express our condolences to the families and governments of foreign tourists who have sadly passed away,” Peru’s foreign ministry said on Twitter.

President Pedro Castillo also regretted the case, adding that he had ordered the Ministry of Tourism and Foreign Affairs to provide assistance to the injured, to contact the families of the victims and the respective embassies to organize the repatriation of the bodies.

A Peruvian Air Force plane landed at Cusco airport around 1:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) to take injured people to Lima, according to local vehicles. Road accidents are frequent in Peru, due to the poor state of the roads, the lack of signage and the lack of control by the authorities.

On July 31, a van fell into a 200-meter abyss, killing 16 people, including children, on an isolated rural road in the center of Junín. In February, a bus crashed into a 100m cliff on a rural road in the La Libertad region near the Andes, killing at least 20 people and injuring 33.

About 5,000 Peruvian and foreign tourists visit Machu Picchu daily, built in the 15th century by the Inca emperor Pachacútec and considered the jewel of Peruvian tourism.