A small tourist plane crashed Saturday over Peru's Nazca Lines, killing all 13 people on board. The aircraft was a Cessna Caravan C-208 carrying eleven passengers and two pilots.
According to a report by BBC News, the passengers included two German, two Spanish, and seven Italian tourists. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
The plane departed from an airport in Pisco, Peru and went down around 13:00 local time in the Pueblo Viejo region. Video from Reuters showed firefighters spraying water at the scene as smoke rose from the wreckage.
Police Major Jorge Andrade confirmed there were no survivors. "Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors. We have recovered four bodies so far," Andrade said, according to AFP.
The Nazca Lines is a UNESCO World Heritage site in southern Peru known for its ancient large-scale drawings of animals etched into the desert sand. It is one of the country's most visited tourist attractions, and small aircraft flights over the site are common.
Officials from the Municipalidad Provincial de Nasca expressed "deep sorrow" for the accident and extended "heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased" in a statement posted online. The plane belonged to local airline Aerodiana. The company said it would "assess its flight schedule in accordance with the directives of the relevant authorities," according to Reuters.
This is not the first fatal crash at the site. In 2022, a small tourist plane crashed over the Nazca Lines, killing seven people. In 2010, another crash at the site killed six.
