Deadly plane crash near Peru’s Nazca Lines kills 13, including tourists

At least 13 people died on Saturday when a tourist aircraft went down in southern Peru near the Nazca Lines, according to police. The crash happened in the Pueblo Viejo area, about six kilometres from the town of Nazca and roughly 12 kilometres from the UNESCO-listed geoglyphs.

Nazca local authorities said 11 tourists and two pilots were on board. Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters that all on board had died and that no survivors were found. He said rescue teams had so far recovered four bodies. Video footage from the scene showed police and firefighters working among burning wreckage in the desert, with images appearing to show victims on the ground.

The plane had taken off from the nearby city of Pisco at around 1pm local time and was on a sightseeing flight over the ancient lines, but lost contact with air traffic control minutes later, local media reported. The reason for the crash remains unknown, and an investigation has been launched.

The Nazca Lines, featuring huge figures of a hummingbird, a monkey and a whale, are only visible from the air and draw hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. A number of operators run sightseeing flights over the site, which is dated to between AD200 and AD700. Safety concerns about the aircraft used have been raised after a series of deadly incidents.

Saturday’s crash was not the first to occur near the heritage site. In 2022, seven people, including two Chileans and three Dutch nationals, died in a small plane crash. In 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members were killed when an AirNasca plane went down, while earlier that year a Cessna 206 crashed, claiming the lives of three Chileans and four Peruvians. Another accident in April 2008 killed five French tourists, though the pilot survived.

In a statement, the municipality of Nazca said investigating the accident and overseeing aviation operations rested with the competent authorities, who would determine the causes and assign liability under the law. Peru’s tourism ministry expressed deep sorrow over the loss of the tourists and crew.