Plane crash on tour of Peru’s Nazca lines leaves 7 dead
Lima, Feb 4 (EFE).- All seven people aboard were killed Friday when their plane went down shortly after 12:00 pm during an aerial tour of the Nazca lines in southern Peru, authorities said.
Joining the Peruvian pilot and co-pilot on the Cessna 207 were five foreign tourists, according to the flight plan filed by tour operator Aero Servicios Santos.
The passengers were described as three Dutch citizens ages 18,19 and 30 and a Chilean man and woman in their mid-20s.
Media outlets shared images of the smoking wreckage of the plane in a field near the Maria Reiche airfield that is the departure point for flights over the Nazca lines: geoglyphs of animals, human-animal hybrids, plants and geometric figures that can be fully perceived only from the air.
The transport ministry expressed solidarity “with the victims’ families” and promised a thorough investigation.
Aero Servicios Santos likewise extended condolences to the victims’ loved ones and said that company representatives were already at the crash site to collaborate in the investigation.
“We have been offering services to the public since 2004 without any incident or accident prior to the regrettable events in Nazca,” the tour operator said in a statement.
Discovered in 1927, the awe-inspiring carvings are the most important legacy of the Nazca culture, which flourished between the second and seventh centuries. EFE dub/dr
