A small plane carrying tourists crashed in the Pueblo Viejo region of Peru on Saturday, killing 13 people, according to reports. The aircraft was flying over the Nazca Lines archaeological site in southern Peru at the time of the crash.
The deceased include 11 passengers and two crew members. The crash site is located approximately six kilometers from the city of Nazca and around 12 kilometers from the Nazca Lines site.
The Nazca Lines is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The geoglyphs in the area consist of images of animals that are fully appreciated from planes or viewing towers and were created hundreds of years ago by Peru’s Indigenous inhabitants.
Nazca's municipal government stated that the plane, operated by the Peruvian company Aerodiana, was conducting a sightseeing flight of the Nazca Lines. There are conflicting reports regarding the plane's departure point; while some sources state the flight departed from Pisco, others claim it departed from the nearby city of Ica.
Reports on the timing of the crash vary, with some sources citing approximately 13:00 local time and others specifying 12:55 p.m. local time. Local news outlets shared images of the smouldering wreckage on Facebook. Peru's civil aviation authority will investigate the incident.
Previous incidents
This is the second recent crash involving a tourist plane over the Nazca Lines. In 2022, another small tourist plane crashed at the site, killing seven people. In 2010, a tourist plane crash over the Nazca Lines killed six people.
