<p>Peruvian police told AFP all four tourists were British but the Foreign Office in London, also citing Peruvian police, said that only three of the four passengers were Britons.<br />Police told AFP that one of the British victims was a woman.<br /><br />The Peruvians who died in the crash yesterday were the crew aboard a Cessna 185 belonging to AirNasca, one of the companies offering overflights of the Nazca lines, designs etched the desert some 2,500 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization that are best seen from the air.<br /><br />"All of those who were aboard are dead. The plane crashed after taking off" from the local Maria Reiche airport, said a police official in Nazca, 460 km (285 miles) south of Lima.<br />The Cessna plummeted to the ground around 0345 IST and slammed into an agricultural field where the pilot was apparently trying to make an emergency landing, the official added.<br /><br />A Foreign Office spokesman said Britain's ambassador to Peru and another member of the consular staff were making their way from Lima to the scene of the crash.<br />"The Peruvian authorities have notified us that three British nationals died in the plane crash in Nazca," the spokesman said.<br />Peruvian police "are attempting to identify the nationality and identity of the fourth passenger," he added.<br /><br />The Maria Reiche airport may be small but it is especially busy: some 40 small airplanes use it as a base to taking tourists to see the Nazca lines.<br />Small plane emergency landings on highways are fairly common in the area.<br /><br />In February four Peruvians and three Chileans died in a similar crash over the lines.<br />Five French tourists were killed in April 2008 when their small plane went down near Nazca, prompting the French government to issue a warning. Peru called it an overreaction.<br />Britain has also warned its nationals about Nazca flights in its Peru travel advice.</p>
<p>Peruvian police told AFP all four tourists were British but the Foreign Office in London, also citing Peruvian police, said that only three of the four passengers were Britons.<br />Police told AFP that one of the British victims was a woman.<br /><br />The Peruvians who died in the crash yesterday were the crew aboard a Cessna 185 belonging to AirNasca, one of the companies offering overflights of the Nazca lines, designs etched the desert some 2,500 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization that are best seen from the air.<br /><br />"All of those who were aboard are dead. The plane crashed after taking off" from the local Maria Reiche airport, said a police official in Nazca, 460 km (285 miles) south of Lima.<br />The Cessna plummeted to the ground around 0345 IST and slammed into an agricultural field where the pilot was apparently trying to make an emergency landing, the official added.<br /><br />A Foreign Office spokesman said Britain's ambassador to Peru and another member of the consular staff were making their way from Lima to the scene of the crash.<br />"The Peruvian authorities have notified us that three British nationals died in the plane crash in Nazca," the spokesman said.<br />Peruvian police "are attempting to identify the nationality and identity of the fourth passenger," he added.<br /><br />The Maria Reiche airport may be small but it is especially busy: some 40 small airplanes use it as a base to taking tourists to see the Nazca lines.<br />Small plane emergency landings on highways are fairly common in the area.<br /><br />In February four Peruvians and three Chileans died in a similar crash over the lines.<br />Five French tourists were killed in April 2008 when their small plane went down near Nazca, prompting the French government to issue a warning. Peru called it an overreaction.<br />Britain has also warned its nationals about Nazca flights in its Peru travel advice.</p>