South America01 August, 20262 min read
Police Say 13 Killed After Tourist Plane Crash Near Nazca Lines In Peru
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Thirteen people died in a small sightseeing plane crash near the Nazca Lines. Eleven passengers and two crew members were killed.
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Crash near Nazca Lines
A small tourist plane carrying visitors to view the Nazca Lines archaeological site crashed in Peru on Saturday, killing 13 people on board, police said. Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters from the crash site in the country’s south, "We have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died," and said, "Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors." The crash occurred shortly after 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) after the plane took off from the airport in Pisco, located about 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Lima.
“Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors.”
Firefighters and police worked at the scene amid the twisted, smoldering wreckage of the aircraft, with local news outlets posting images on Facebook. The plane was flying over the Nazca Lines, a UNESCO World Heritage site featuring geoglyphs etched into desert sands dating back to between 500 BC and 500 AD, according to the UN agency.
Investigation and local response
Peru’s civil aviation authority will investigate the incident, while firefighters and police continued working at the site among the debris of the still-smoldering aircraft. Police Major Jorge Andrade said, "We have recovered four bodies so far," and did not identify the victims or provide any immediate indication of what may have caused the crash. The BBC reported that the aircraft had been flying over the Nazca Lines archaeological site when it went down on Saturday, with eleven passengers and two pilots on board.
In a statement in Spanish posted online by the Municipalidad Provincial de Nasca, officials expressed "deep sorrow" for the accident and extended "heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased." The BBC also said the plane belonged to local Peruvian airline Aerodiana, and the BBC contacted the airline for comment.
Tourism stakes and past crashes
The crash underscored the risks faced by tourists who travel to see the Nazca Lines, which are often viewed from the air because the geoglyphs can be seen more clearly from above. Al Jazeera reported that the crash involved a plane from the fleet of the Peruvian sightseeing company Aerodiana, and said local media indicated the crash site was quickly engulfed in flames, preventing any rescues. The BBC said the incident was not the first crash over the famed site, noting that in 2022 another small tourist plane crashed during a flight over the Nazca Lines site, killing seven on board.
The BBC also pointed to an earlier crash in 2010, when a tourist plane went down over the site, killing six people on board. With the Nazca Lines designated a UNESCO World Heritage site and described by UNESCO as "among archaeology’s greatest enigmas," the crash adds pressure on how sightseeing flights operate over the desert near Peru’s southern coastal regions.