Tourist sightseeing plane crashes near Peru's Nazca Lines, killing all 13 aboard

Summary

A small tourist plane crashed into a field near Nazca, a city in southern Peru, on August 1 while conducting a sightseeing flight over the Nazca Lines, one of the world's most visited UNESCO World Heritage archaeological sites. All 13 people on board were killed, including 11 passengers and 2 pilots, according to Peruvian police confirmed to Al Jazeera. The aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control tower shortly after takeoff, Reuters reported, citing Peruvian broadcaster TV Peru. Flights over the Nazca Lines were suspended as authorities began an investigation into the cause.

The split

Coverage was uniform on the death toll and the basic sequence of events. Al Jazeera and Reuters led with the UNESCO heritage context; the Pakistani outlet Geo.tv and Canada's CP24 led with the flight suspension and emergency response. No outlet had access to an official cause of the crash, and all noted the investigation was at an early stage. Ukrainian outlet Mezha.net emphasised the unclear cause and called for the investigation findings, the only report that framed the ambiguity explicitly.

By the numbers

• 13, total killed, all on board
• 11, passengers aboard
• 2, pilots killed
• 0, survivors

Why it matters

Small-plane sightseeing flights over the Nazca Lines, which cover about 450 sq km of Peruvian desert and can only be seen from the air in their full geometric form, are a significant tourism draw in southern Peru. Crashes at the site are not unknown, but a single event killing 13 is among the deadlier Peruvian aviation accidents in recent years, and the suspension of Nazca flights affects an active commercial tourism operation.

What to watch

• Peruvian transport authority findings on the crash cause
• Whether the flight suspension over the Nazca Lines is extended beyond the initial investigation period
• Identification of passengers and their nationalities