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Two elderly Australian tourists have drowned in Peru's Cusco region while canoeing on a river swollen by heavy rains, police said Tuesday.
The tourists, identified as 60-year-old Irene Williams and 65-year-old Colleen Matthews, had embarked Monday on an adventure tourism trip along with a group of other foreign visitors when they fell into raging waters.
Peruvian authorities have recommended that all companies providing boating services suspend their operations in the wake of heavy rains, but the adventure company in question apparently failed to heed the warning, police said.
Peru's main tourist attraction Machu Picchu, one of the world's most prized heritage sites, was closed in February after the rains cut off access to the ancient citadel.
The railway to the site was damaged in hundreds of places by flooding and landslides prompted by the downpours that slammed the country in late January.
