At least seven people were killed after a plane crashed near Peru's famous Nazca Lines, the transport ministry said.

The tourist plane, owned by the Aero Santos tourism company, was carrying five tourists and two crew members when it came down shortly after takeoff from the small airport of Maria Reiche in Nazca around noon, it said in a statement on Friday.

There were no survivors among the seven onboard, which a diplomatic source told AFP included two Chilean tourists.

Brigadier Juan Tirado, a firefighter in Nazca, said the plane crashed near an airfield in the city. “There are no survivors,” he said.

The Nazca Lines are huge etchings depicting imaginary figures, creatures and plants that were scratched on the surface of a coastal desert between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago.

They are believed to have had ritual astronomical purposes and are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Most are only visible from the sky.

In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members were killed when an AirNasca aircraft crashed over the lines.