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A light aircraft carrying tourists to view Peru’s Nazca Lines crashed on Saturday, killing all 13 people on board, according to authorities and local media.
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The Cessna Caravan C-208 involved in the incident, operated by Peruvian airline Aerodiana, had taken off at around 12:10 pm local time on Saturday from Pisco airport for a sightseeing flight over the world-famous geoglyphs.
“At approximately 1 pm, when the aircraft was flying near the town of Socos, the crew reported an emergency to the Nazca airfield control tower, after which all radio contact was lost,” Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications said in a statement.
Eleven tourists and two pilots were on board when the plane went down. According to the state-owned Peruvian news agency Andina, the passengers included seven Italians, two Germans, and two Spaniards.
“We have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died,” Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters at the scene of the crash, per AFP.
“Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors. We have recovered four bodies so far,” he added.
Sightseeing flights over the attraction from the nearby airport had already been temporarily suspended on Friday due to wind speeds exceeding 40 kilometres per hour.
The Nazca Lines in southern Peru are a vast collection of geoglyphs etched into the desert floor around 2,000 years ago.
They depict animals, plants, and geometric shapes, among other figures, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Best viewed from the air, sightseeing flights in small aircraft have become one of the most popular ways for visitors to view the ancient designs.