A tourist sightseeing flight over Peru’s Nazca Lines has crashed, killing all 13 people on board, according to local authorities.
The small plane, operated by Peruvian airline Aerodiana, went down around 6 km from the city of Nazca and roughly 19 km from the archaeological site on Saturday shortly before completing its flight.
The Cessna Caravan C-208 aircraft had taken off from Pisco, a port city on Peru’s southern coast, at around 12:10 p.m local time, and lost contact with air traffic control minutes later.
The plane was carrying two pilots and 11 passengers, including two German, two Spanish and seven Italian tourists, as reported by state news agency Agencia Andina.
The flight was operating a popular aerial tour of the Nazca Lines, a UNESCO-listed series of ancient geoglyphs that are best viewed from the air and attract around 100,000 visitors each year.
The plane caught fire after crashing, and emergency services, including firefighters and police, attended the scene to extinguish the blaze and begin recovery efforts.
The cause of the crash is not yet known, with an investigation underway.
Sightseeing flights in the area had been suspended the previous day due to strong winds and reduced visibility.
Aerodiana has operated scenic flights over the Nazca Lines for more than a decade using small aircraft.
The airline said in a statement that it ‘will assess its flight schedule in accordance with the directives of the relevant authorities.’
