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Plane carrying European tourists crashes in Peru, killing 13 people on Nazca Lines viewing flight

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Plane carrying European tourists crashes in Peru, killing 13 people on Nazca Lines viewing flight
News

News

Plane carrying European tourists crashes in Peru, killing 13 people on Nazca Lines viewing flight

2026-08-02 09:54 Last Updated At:10:00

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A plane carrying European tourists to view the famed Nazca Lines crashed into a field Saturday outside the Peruvian city of Nazca, killing 13 people, local authorities said.

Nazca's municipal government said the plane departed from the nearby city of Ica and was operated by Peruvian company Aerodiana. On its website, the airline said that it has offered scenic flights over the Nazca lines for the past 14 years using Cessna Grand Caravan planes.

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Police load the bodies of victims killed in a plane crash during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines into a vehicle in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police load the bodies of victims killed in a plane crash during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines into a vehicle in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

The Nazca Lines are a group of extensive geoglyphs scraped into the desert around Nazca hundreds of years ago by Peru's Indigenous inhabitants. The lines form images of animals that can only be fully appreciated from planes or viewing towers.

Among the dead were seven Italian citizens between the ages of 18 and 54, two 52-year-old Spaniards and two Germans of 77 and 78 years, Peru's Transportation Ministry said. The other two fatalities were the pilot Américo Salazar and copilot Irenka Guanilo del Carpio, it said in an official report.

President Keiko Fujimori expressed regret over the accident and said a “temporary suspension” of the airport was being considered, though the decision will be made once she receives reports from the relevant ministries.

Peruvian authorities said the accident is under investigation. Aerodiana was not immediately available for comment.

Police load the bodies of victims killed in a plane crash during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines into a vehicle in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police load the bodies of victims killed in a plane crash during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines into a vehicle in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

Police inspect the wreckage of a plane that crashed during a sightseeing flight carrying tourists over the Nazca Lines in Peru, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Genry Bautista)

LACANAU, France (AP) — France’s vast wildfire near Bordeaux, which scorched an area four times the size of Paris and forced 224,000 people to evacuate, remained contained Sunday but was still burning. Hundreds of kilometers (miles) away, a newer blaze in Provence had stopped advancing overnight but was not yet contained.

About 3,000 firefighters remained deployed across the two fronts, extinguishing hot spots, cutting firebreaks and securing areas of burned forest as high temperatures and wind threatened to breathe new life into smoldering embers.

The fire in the Gironde region burned about 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) in just 10 days before authorities declared its advance stopped over the weekend.

“The fire is now fixed, which does not mean that the fire is extinguished,” the Gironde prefecture said Sunday, using the French firefighting term for a blaze that has been contained within its perimeter.

The region remained under France’s highest red forest-fire alert. Dry conditions and soaring temperatures in Bordeaux, along with afternoon winds, risked rekindling flames.

Additional firefighters from Ukraine, Lithuania and French Polynesia were expected Sunday and Monday to reinforce the operation.

Human-caused climate change doubled the chances of extreme fire conditions for the flames in France, scientists at World Weather Attribution calculated in a rapid analysis Thursday, conducted while fires were still burning.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The Gironde blaze prompted one of the largest peacetime evacuations in modern French history. Many thousands of people remained displaced or unable to reach their homes.

In the southeastern Var department, meanwhile, nearly 1,500 firefighters were battling a separate fire that tore through roughly 18 square kilometers — seven square miles — in little more than a day.

Authorities said the blaze in the Gros Bessillon hills was stabilized Sunday morning, meaning its perimeter had not expanded overnight. But unlike the Gironde fire, it had not yet been declared contained.

Firefighting aircraft supported crews working to keep the flames away from villages set among the vineyards, olive groves and wooded hills of the region known as Green Provence.

About 2,500 people were evacuated as the fire threatened communities.

The blaze was the fourth major fire to strike the central Var since July 19. A separate, smaller fire near Brignoles earlier in the week forced Hollywood star George Clooney and his family, along with about 700 other residents, to evacuate before it was brought under control.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France’s wildfires were generally under control but cautioned that conditions remained highly changeable.

Lecornu also announced the appointment of a national coordinator to oversee reconstruction in fire-ravaged areas. More than 1,170 square kilometers (452 square miles) have burned across France since the beginning of the year.

———

Adamson reported from Paris.

An Airbus helicopter lets a Bambi Bucket full of water go over a firezone, near Blagon, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Airbus helicopter lets a Bambi Bucket full of water go over a firezone, near Blagon, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

A firefighting helicopter releases water over a wildfire near Correns, southeastern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Clement Mahoudeau/Pool Photo via AP)

A firefighting helicopter releases water over a wildfire near Correns, southeastern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Clement Mahoudeau/Pool Photo via AP)

The light flows through a charred forest near Ares, during wildfires in southwestern France, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

The light flows through a charred forest near Ares, during wildfires in southwestern France, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An aerial view of a homes burned by wildfires in Le Porge, southwestern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)

An aerial view of a homes burned by wildfires in Le Porge, southwestern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)

A firefighter walks through a charred forest near Blagon, during wildfires, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

A firefighter walks through a charred forest near Blagon, during wildfires, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

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