Five French tourists were killed and a pilot was injured after a small plane crashed at a scenic spot in southern Peru on April 9.

The plane took off from an airport near the famous Nazca Lines in the afternoon, but was forced to begin emergency landing procedures due to apparent mechanical problems.

It crashed into a two-storey building about 500 meters away from the airport.

Five French tourists were killed on the spot and the Peruvian pilot was injured and hospitalized, local media reported.

Tourists often take short flights on small airplanes for a bird's eye view of the mysterious lines, which depict animals more than a millennium ago.

It was the fourth plane emergency since December last year in the same region. On March 27, a small plane made an emergency landing on the Panamerican highway due to a technical glitch. No one was injured.