13 dead after tourist plane crashes in Peru en route to see famed Nazca Lines

LIMA - At least 13 people died when a small plane carrying tourists to view Peru’s famed Nazca Lines archaeological site crashed, police said on Aug 1.

“We have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died,” Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters from the crash site in the country’s south.

The incident occurred shortly after 1pm (2am on Aug 2 in Singapore) after the plane took off from the airport in Pisco, located about 240km south of the capital Lima.

“Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors. We have recovered four bodies so far,” Andrade said, without identifying the victims.

He also did not give any immediate indication of what may have caused the crash. Peru’s civil aviation authority will investigate the incident.

Firefighters and police were working at the scene amid the twisted, smoldering wreckage of the aircraft, images posted on Facebook by local news outlets revealed.

Dozens of small planes operate from the airport in Pisco, handling a large volume of primarily foreign tourists hoping to visit the Nazca Lines.

The UNESCO World Heritage site features a group of geoglyphs etched into the desert sands that date back to between 500 BC and 500 AD, according to the UN agency.

Such accidents have occurred before. In 2022, seven people were killed in a plane crash, including two Chileans and three Dutch nationals.

In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members died when an AirNasca plane crashed after taking the tourists to view the site. AFP