The passengers included seven Italians, two Germans believed to be a couple, and two Spanish nationals. The pilot and co-pilot were named as Americo Salazar Cuellar and Irenka Del Carpio.

The aircraft left the nearby city of Pisco at around 1pm local time (7pm BST) for a sightseeing flight over the Nazca Lines. Minutes later, it lost contact with the control tower and crashed at around 1.20pm, according to police.

OVER DOZEN TOURISTS KILLED after PLANE CRASHES and ERUPTS into FLAMES in Peru pic.twitter.com/qGwvfXXSx7

— RT (@RT_com) August 1, 2026

The cause of the crash remains unknown, and local authorities have opened an investigation.

What have officials said?

Police Major Jorge Andrade, speaking to reporters at the crash site, said “we have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died.” He added that the severity of the crash meant there were no survivors, with four bodies recovered at the time of his statement.

Video footage showing firefighters and police working amid the smouldering wreckage in the desert, with what appeared to be bodies visible on the sand.

🇵🇪 A tourist plane crashed near Peru’s Nazca Lines today, killing all 13 people on board.

The Cessna Caravan, operated by Aerodiana, was on a low-altitude scenic flight over the famous geoglyphs with 11 passengers and 2 pilots. No survivors.

These overflights are popular…

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 1, 2026

The municipality of Nazca said in a statement that determining the cause of the crash and assigning responsibility would fall to the relevant aviation authorities, acting in line with the law. Peru’s tourism ministry separately expressed sorrow over the deaths of the tourists and crew.

Has this happened before at this site?

This is far from the first fatal crash at the Unesco World Heritage site, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. Several operators run competing overflight tours of the ancient lines, which date to between AD200 and 700, amid long-standing concerns about aircraft safety and maintenance in the area.

In 2022, a small plane crash at the site killed seven people, including two Chileans and three Dutch nationals. In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members died when an AirNasca plane crashed after flying over the lines. Earlier that same year, three Chileans and four Peruvians were killed when a Cessna 206 went down. In April 2008, five French tourists died in a separate crash, though the pilot survived that incident.

Why are the Nazca Lines significant?

The Nazca Lines are a set of enormous desert etchings, including figures of a hummingbird, a monkey and a whale, which can only be fully seen from the air.

Their scale and age have made them one of Peru’s most visited archaeological sites, and a major draw for tourist overflights like the one involved in Saturday’s crash.