A small tourist plane carrying 11 foreign tourists and two crew members crashed near the Nazca Lines archaeological site in southern Peru on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of all 13 people on board, according to local authorities. The plane was operated by Peruvian airline Aerodiana and was on a scenic flight over the Nazca Lines, a popular tourist destination in Peru. The Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that the plane, a Cessna Caravan C-208 aircraft, took off from Pisco Airport at 12:10 pm local time and crashed in the area of Socos, approximately 6 km from the city of Nazca and 19 km from the Nazca Lines site.
The crew reported an emergency situation to the control tower at Nazca airport at 1:00 pm local time, after which all radio contact was lost. The plane caught fire after crashing, making rescue efforts impossible, according to Peruvian broadcaster RPP. Firefighters and municipal police officers were dispatched to extinguish the fire and carry out initial rescue efforts.
Footage shared on social media showed the smoking wreckage of the plane on arid plains, although Reuters was unable to independently verify the footage. The cause of the crash is currently unknown, and the government has launched an investigation into the incident. Aerodiana stated that it would assess its flight schedule in accordance with the directives of the relevant authorities.
The Nazca Lines, a group of extensive geoglyphs etched into desert plains hundreds of years ago by Peru’s Indigenous inhabitants, are one of Peru’s main tourist destinations, attracting around 100,000 annual visitors. Visitors typically view the geoglyphs from small aircraft flying over the site. Flights over the Nazca Lines had been suspended on Friday due to strong winds, which forced two planes to divert to the Marcona Airport.
