Tourists visiting the remote site of Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca city in the Peruvian Andes, are waiting to be airlifted out of the area by helicopters after torrential rain caused landslides to block the railway line which is the only major land route to the site.

Up to 40 landslides are believed to have cut the railway, a 70-mile (112km) line from the city of Cuzco which snakes its way through a narrow, steep-sided river valley. The line was cut on Saturday and may remain blocked until later in the week.

Two Peruvians, one a baby, were killed when mudslides engulfed homes. The Peruvian authorities have declared a state of emergency and have designated 10 helicopters to evacuate visitors.

Reports tonight said some people were being airlifted from the site.

Sarah Child, a British tourist on a tour with Intrepid Travel, has been stranded in Machu Picchu for two days. She estimated there were 1,500 tourists, mainly Australian and American, trapped there. Most would have expected to stay just a night at the site, which has only one hotel, which has been providing food and shelter for those marooned.

Child's tour group has been put up at the hotel, but she said some people were sleeping in the city's square.

The 25-year-old said reports of tourists already being airlifted out were wide of the mark. She said there had been little communication from the Peruvian authorities; she had only seen two police helicopters in the last 48 hours and the only person she had seen evacuated was the city's mayor, who was going to plead for help from the government. "We're running out of food and water, they're running out of gas," she said. "There's no hot water, no gas to cook with."

Child said plans to bring in helicopters to airlift people out had so far been thwarted by the weather. "The river is really, really high and ferocious."

She said most of the tourists were in good spirits, but added: "We are scared that as supplies are running low the mood might change."

The rains have also ruined crops and caused damage in Cuzco and at the nearby Inca fortress of Sacsayhuamán, part of which has collapsed.

Claire Southern, from the travel company Responsible Travel, who has experience as a guide in the region, said: "It is not entirely unusual for the line to be cut, but the rains have been particularly heavy this year. There have been relentless downpours. If the line is cut, only helicopters can land. There are no cashpoints so some people may find themselves relying on the goodwill of local people."

Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, is thought to have been built in the 15th century and was hidden for many years until being found by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911.