Plane crash in Peru kills 13 people
A Cessna 208 Caravan crashed shortly after takeoff from Pisco airport in Peru, killing 13 people including foreign tourists and crew members. Authorities have launched an investigation and the president says the airport may be closed.
Thirteen people have died in a plane crash in southern Peru. According to the country's Transport Ministry, the dead include seven Italian citizens, two German citizens, two Spanish citizens and two crew members.
The accident happened shortly after take-off from Pisco airport, about 240 kilometres south of the capital Lima. The aircraft, a Cessna 208 Caravan, crashed, though no further details have been released. Peru's civil aviation authority and the air accident agency have opened an investigation.
President Keiko Fuhimori has said the government is considering closing Pisco airport. The airport serves as a key departure point for tourists planning to see the Nazca Lines – ancient geoglyphs etched into the desert sands. The figures date from 500 BC to AD 500.
Their exact meaning remains unclear, and some researchers believe they may have had ritual or astronomical purposes, according to UNESCO, which added the site to its World Heritage list in 1994.
Dozens of small planes operate from Pisco, carrying mostly foreign tourists hoping to view the Nazca Lines from the air. Serious accidents have happened in the area before. In 2022, seven people were killed, including two Chilean and three Dutch nationals. In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members died when an AirNasca plane came down after taking visitors to the site.
