Three Dutch tourists die in Peru small plane crash

Three Dutch tourists were killed in a plane crash in southern Peru on a sightseeing trip, Peruvian media reported Friday.

The victims are two young men aged 18 and 19 from the Veluwe region and a 30-year-old man from Utrecht, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Two Chilean passengers and two Peruvian pilots who were on the small plane also died, according to local authorities and Peruvian media.

The sightseeing plane crashed near the world-famous ancient Nazca Lines, which are vast drawings of animals and geometric figures created on the ground but best seen from air. The aircraft was a single-engine Cessna 207 from the AeroSantos tourism company, which had just taken off from an airport near Nazca, authorities said. The bodies are believed to have been burned by fire resulting from an explosion after the crash.

Peruvian aviation authorities are still investigating the cause of the plane crash and did not comment about it, according to the Peruvian broadcaster RPP.

The Nazca Lines, many of which are over 2,000 years old, are a popular tourist attraction and a World Heritage Site. This is not the first plane crash near the site: in 2010, four British tourists and the Peruvian crew of an AirNasca plane also died in a crash.