Police in Peru said at least 13 people died when a tourist plane crashed near the Nazca Lines on Saturday. The Cessna Grand Caravan had left Pisco at about 1pm local time for a sightseeing flight over the site, which is only fully visible from the air.
Police Major Jorge Andrade said 11 passengers and two crew members died, and he told reporters at the crash site that four bodies had been recovered so far. He also said there were no survivors.
Peru investigators reach Pueblo Viejo
The plane lost contact with the control tower minutes after departure and crashed at 1.20pm in Pueblo Viejo, about 4 miles from Nazca and roughly 12 kilometers from the Nazca Lines site. Local authorities launched an investigation as the municipality of Nazca said the accident and oversight of aviation operations were the responsibility of the competent authorities.
The cause of the crash was not yet known, leaving investigators to work backward from the aircraft’s last minutes, from the departure in Pisco to the loss of contact and the impact in Pueblo Viejo. Peru’s tourism ministry expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of tourists and crew members.
Nazca Lines flight safety
The crash adds to a long record of deadly sightseeing-flight accidents linked to the Nazca Lines area. In April 2008, five French tourists were killed in another crash and the pilot survived. In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members died when a small plane operated by AirNasca crashed after flying over the lines. Earlier in 2010, three Chileans and four Peruvians died when a Cessna 206 crashed, and in 2022 a small plane crash killed seven people, including two Chileans and three Dutch nationals.
The latest deaths sit inside a route that operators still sell because the Nazca Lines draw visitors and are only visible from the air. For travelers booked on overflights, the immediate issue is whether their operator has any new guidance while local authorities examine the aircraft, the flight path and the point at which contact with the control tower stopped.
