Overview
- A small sightseeing plane that left Pisco lost contact with air traffic control minutes after takeoff and crashed near Pueblo Viejo, about 12 kilometres from the Nazca Lines, killing 11 passengers and two crew.
- Emergency teams worked at the smouldering wreckage and recovered several bodies as police and firefighters secured the scene and began on-site recovery operations.
- Local officials identified the aircraft as belonging to the Peruvian carrier Aerodiana, and the company had not issued a public comment in initial reports.
- Peru's civil aviation authority has opened a formal investigation but has not released a cause, and investigators are reviewing recent strong winds and the fact that flights were suspended at a nearby airfield the previous day.
- The crash raises fresh safety concerns for small tourist flights over the UNESCO-listed Nazca Lines, a region that relies on light aircraft for about 100,000 visitors a year and that has seen fatal accidents in 2010 and 2022; the accident could prompt tighter oversight or temporary operational changes.