A plane carrying tourists has crashed into a field in Peru outside the city of Nazca, killing 13 people, local authorities said.

"We have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died," Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters on Saturday from the crash site in the country's south.

In a statement on Facebook, Nazca's municipal government said the plane was taking tourists on a sightseeing flight of the Nazca Lines, 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.

Nazca's government said the plane departed from the nearby city of Ica and was operated by Peruvian company Aerodiana.

On its website, the airline says that it has offered scenic flights over the Nazca lines for the past 14 years, using Cessna Grand Caravan planes.

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