Humantay Avalanche in Peru: Tourists Filmed the 23 September 2026 Slide and No One Was Hurt
PERU · TRAVEL
Key Facts
- —The country. Peru has about 34.9 million people, and tourism around Cusco is one of its largest employers. President Keiko Fujimori took office on 28 July 2026.
- —The money. The currency is the sol, near 3.37 to the US dollar in September 2026. Machu Picchu entries have been resold at up to 900 soles, about US$266, according to the Culture Ministry audit.
- —The background. Laguna Humantay sits below Nevado Salkantay, in the district of Mollepata, Anta province, Cusco region, at roughly 4,200 metres. INAIGEM is Peru’s national research institute for glaciers and mountain ecosystems. Gercetur Cusco is the regional foreign trade and tourism office.
- —The news. On Wednesday 23 September 2026 rock and debris detached from a slope ringing the lagoon and descended toward the water. No one was hurt. About ten tourists were present and filmed the slide as it happened.
- —What is new. The visitors did not evacuate. They stayed and recorded it. This is at least the third such event at the lagoon: 27 July 2026, an August 2026 slide after a regional earthquake, and now 23 September 2026.
- —What it means for you. No closure or access restriction has been reported at the lagoon. INAIGEM has asked for a risk evaluation, prevention measures and marked evacuation routes. Gercetur asked for real-time monitoring after the July event.
- —The caveat. No specific trigger has been identified for the September slide. Separately, and unconnected to it, a Ministry of Culture audit at Machu Picchu concerns bot-driven ticket hoarding rather than cancellations, and no sanctions have been announced.
A Humantay avalanche above Cusco injured no one on 23 September 2026, and about ten visitors stayed to film it.
What happened at Laguna Humantay
No one was hurt. That is the first fact about the avalanche at Laguna Humantay in Peru on Wednesday 23 September 2026. Both Infobae and El Comercio reported no injuries and no deaths.
Rock and debris detached from a slope that rings the lagoon. The material then descended toward the water.
The lagoon lies below Nevado Salkantay, in the district of Mollepata, Anta province, in the Cusco region. It sits at roughly 4,200 metres above sea level. It is one of the busiest day trips sold from Cusco city.
About ten tourists were present. They stayed where they were and recorded the slide on their phones. They did not move away from the area.
That detail is the story within the story. The visitors filmed this avalanche as it was happening, rather than leaving the slope. An earlier slide at the same lagoon, on 27 July 2026, was also recorded by the tourists who were there that day.
The third slide since July, and what specialists have asked for
This was not an isolated event. It is at least the third at the lagoon in recent months.
A slide occurred on 27 July 2026, and tourists filmed that one too. Another followed in August 2026, after a regional earthquake. The 23 September slide is the most recent of the three.
No specific trigger has been identified for the September event. Authorities have not published a cause. The August slide, by contrast, followed a regional earthquake.
INAIGEM has asked for action. Its full name is Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Glaciares y Ecosistemas de Montaña, the national research institute for glaciers and mountain ecosystems. It has called for a risk evaluation of the lagoon, for prevention measures and for marked evacuation routes.
After the July slide, Gercetur Cusco asked for a real-time monitoring system. Gercetur is the regional office for foreign trade and tourism. Authorities say they continue to monitor the sector, and no access restriction or closure has been reported.
A separate Cusco story: the Machu Picchu ticket audit
This next item is not connected to the avalanche. It shares only the Cusco tourism beat. It is a governance story about ticket sales, not a natural-hazard story.
An audit by the Ministry of Culture and its regional office in Cusco found ticket hoarding. That regional office is the Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura, known as DDC Cusco.
The mechanism was technical. The booking system allowed reservations to be held for up to three hours without payment. Tourism companies used fake names to get around per-buyer limits. They then ran bots to accumulate tickets, which cut visible availability in peak season by up to 5,600 tickets a day.
The figures are large. Eight companies were tied to roughly 210,000 tickets. More than 40 agencies are under review for conduct between 2024 and mid-July 2026. One single agency was linked to concentrating more than 11,200 entries without paying for them.
Resale was reported at up to 900 soles, about US$266. The Subprefectura de Machupicchu and the Defensoría del Pueblo de Cusco, the regional ombudsman office, are also reviewing the case. The ministry has deployed a new ticketing platform in a 30-day trial, and no sanctions have been announced yet.
What this means if you are planning a Cusco trip
If Humantay is on your itinerary, the site is open. No closure or access restriction has been reported, and authorities say they continue to monitor the sector.
The gap is in preparation rather than access. The evacuation routes INAIGEM has asked for do not yet exist. Neither does the real-time monitoring system Gercetur requested in July.
So one question is worth putting to a tour operator. Ask what the guide is instructed to do if material starts moving above the lagoon. The 23 September event showed that a group’s instinct can be to film rather than to withdraw.
On Machu Picchu tickets, the audit does not change the basic advice. Buy through the official channel. Treat a 900-sol resale offer, about US$266, as a sign that something is wrong with the seller.
The new platform is running on a 30-day trial, so availability may look different from one week to the next. No sanctions have been announced against any company, and that part of the story remains open.
Sources
- Infobae — nueva avalancha en la laguna Humantay
- El Comercio — nueva avalancha sorprende a turistas en el Humantay
- RPP — Gercetur pide monitoreo en tiempo real
- Infobae — ocho empresas usaron bots para 210.000 entradas a Machu Picchu
- Infobae — más de 40 agencias bajo revisión
FAQ
Was anyone hurt in the Humantay avalanche?
No. Both Infobae and El Comercio reported no injuries and no deaths from the slide on 23 September 2026. About ten tourists were nearby at the time.
Is Laguna Humantay closed to visitors?
No closure or access restriction has been reported. Authorities say they continue to monitor the sector. INAIGEM has asked for a risk evaluation and for marked evacuation routes, which do not yet exist.
Did the tourists film this avalanche or an earlier one?
They filmed this one, as it happened on 23 September 2026. About ten of them stayed and recorded it instead of moving away. A separate slide on 27 July 2026 was also filmed by tourists at the time.
Are the Machu Picchu ticket problems linked to the avalanche?
No. They are separate stories that share only the Cusco tourism beat. The ticket audit concerns bot-driven hoarding and resale of entries, not the avalanche and not cancellations.
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