Peru: 13 dead in tourist plane crash near Nazca Lines

A tourist flight to Peru's famed Nazca Lines ended in tragedy when a small plane crashed shortly after departing from Pisco. All 11 passengers and two crew members aboard perished in the accident.

The aircraft went down around 1 p.m. local time, just after taking off from the aerodrome in Pisco, a city located about 240 kilometers south of the capital, Lima. Police commander Jorge Andrade confirmed the fatalities at the scene, stating that the magnitude of the crash meant there were no survivors. As of Saturday, four bodies had been recovered.

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Eleven passengers and two crew members are dead.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Peruvian Civil Aviation Authority. Images from the scene showed emergency personnel sifting through the smoking wreckage of the plane. Small aircraft frequently operate from Pisco's aerodrome, transporting numerous passengers, predominantly foreign tourists, to view the Nazca Lines, a significant archaeological attraction.

This incident is not the first aviation tragedy in the region. In 2022, a similar plane crash resulted in seven deaths, including tourists from Chile and the Netherlands. In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members died when another plane crashed after a flight over the lines.

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Given the magnitude of the accident, there are no survivors. To date, we have recovered four bodies.