Truck driver arrested for damage to Peru's Nazca Lines

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Peruvian authorities arrested a truck driver they said drove his vehicle through the Nazca Lines, partly damaging the protected archaeological site.

Peru's Ministry of Culture announced Monday that Janier Jesus Flores Vigo will face charges for ignoring signs indicating the location of the sacred site and driving a cargo truck through it.

The Nazca Lines, which date back some 2,000 years, are considered a UNESCO World Heritage site and feature hundreds of geometric shapes and figures, including animals and plants. The figures are from 50 feet to 1,200 feet in size, and some of the straight lines are nearly 30 miles long.

They figures can largely only be seen from the air or atop nearby hilltops. They were made by a pre-Inca civilization about 200 miles southeast of Lima.

The ministry said Flores Vigo caused damage to three glyphs in an area about 160 feet by 330 feet on Jan. 27.

In December 2012, officials in Peru said a Greenpeace stunt caused lasting damage to the site. The activists trespassed onto the ancient site to lay down a series of bright yellow letters spelling out, "Time for Change! The Future is Renewable."