Peru: Woman Falls Off Cliff

By Ynet

Peru – Officials are fearing for the life of a 23-year-old Israeli tourist, who is missing after losing her balance and falling down a 200 meter cliff into a gorge near the ancient Incan city of Cusco, southeast of the Peruvian capital of Lima during the predawn hours of Sunday morning local time.

The woman’s friend informed local authorities of the incident, and rescue teams were dispatched to the scene. The missing woman’s condition remains unclear.

Peruvian rescue teams are searching for her.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the deputy ambassador to Lima, Gali Dagan, was also making his way to the scene, while Ministry officials in Israel are in contact with the young woman’s family.

Rabbi Ofer Kripor, Chabad’s emissary to Cusco, said the group the missing woman travelled with was making its way from Machu Picchu to the capital Lima by bus. When the bus stopped for a short break, the woman got off and then apparently fell from a cliff dozens of meters high, he said.

Cusco often serves as a base for trekkers in South America. About a year ago 22-year-old Rishon Lezion resident Tomer Ahuan was killed when he apparently fell off his boat during a rafting expedition in the Apurimac River in Peru.

In another fatal accident, 23-year-old Yuval Noam of Jerusalem was killed in Turkey’s Antalya region after he slipped and fell from a 40-meter (about 130 feet) cliff.