A Peruvian guide was killed and six Frenchmen were injured after being struck by lightning while walking
A journey turns into drama. Lightning killed a 47-year-old Peruvian guide and injured six French tourists on Sunday, March 10 around 3pm (local time) in the tourist region of Cuzco in southern Peru, local police announced on Monday.
This rainy season, the group of hikers was struck by lightning while they were on Mount Vinicunca, also called “Mountain of the Seven Colors,” located in the heart of the Andes, about a hundred kilometers from Cusco.
Local police said in a press release that the French tourists, aged between 22 and 40, were taken to hospital in Cusco. She added that they were suffering from “burns and injuries,” without giving further details about their health condition. For his part, Saul Kaybani, Director of the Foreign Trade and Tourism Department, told the media commerce Five tourists have already left the clinic but a young woman remains under observation due to head trauma.
Five people killed by lightning in Peru in 2024
Seven-colored mountain peaks at an altitude of 5,200 metres. The colors they are composed of are the result of the accumulation of layers of sediment over millions of years. Very popular with tourists, it is one of the most visited places in Peru along with Machu Picchu, the most visited Inca site in the world.
However, it only became a major tourist attraction in the past decade, when global warming melted the layer of snow that covered it, revealing its many colors.
Since the beginning of the year, at least five people have been killed by lightning in the Andean regions of Peru, according to Civil Defense. Faced with this situation, many community members in the surrounding areas are calling on the authorities to install lightning rods in the high Andean regions.
“Unapologetic pop culture trailblazer. Freelance troublemaker. Food guru. Alcohol fanatic. Gamer. Explorer. Thinker.”