Plane crashes into Melbourne shopping mall

Flames at the site of the plane crash. Channel 9 via AP

Smoke billows from the site of the plane crash in Australia. Channel 9 via AP

The plane had taken off from Melbourne’s second-biggest airport, at Essendon, on a chartered flight to King Island. Joe Castro / AAP / via Reuters

Emergency services workers at the scene of the plane crash in Essendon, Melbourne. Joe Castro / EPA

MELBOURNE // An Australian pilot and four American tourists on a golfing holiday were killed when a light plane crashed in flames into a shopping mall on Tuesday, shortly after takeoff in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said.

The five were in a twin-engine Beechcraft Super King Air that crashed about 45 minutes before the Direct Factory Outlet mall in suburban Essendon was to open, police minister Lisa Neville said.

The US embassy in Canberra confirmed that four victims were US citizens. Texans Greg Reynolds De Haven and Russell Munsch have been identified by their families on social media as two of the victims.

De Haven’s sister Denelle Wicht posted on Facebook that her 70-year-old brother had been killed “on a once in a lifetime trip to Australia” with friends.

The pilot was Max Quartermain, owner of the charter company Corporate and Leisure Travel.

The plane had taken off from Melbourne’s second-biggest airport at Essendon for a golfing trip to King Island, 255 kilometres to the south, officials said.

The mall adjoins the airport.

Police assistant commissioner Stephen Leane said no one outside the plane was injured.

“Looking at the fireball, it is incredibly lucky that no one was at the back of those stores or in the car park of the stores, that no one was even hurt,” Mr Leane said.

The pilot reported a “catastrophic engine failure” moments before the plane crashed into a storage area at the rear of the mall, police said.

Police and paramedics rushed to the crash site, where firefighters doused the flames.

A witness who gave his name as Jason told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that he was passing the mall in a taxi when the plane crashed.

“I saw this plane coming in really low and fast. I couldn’t see the impact but when it hit the building there was a massive fireball,” he said.

“I could feel the heat through the window of the taxi, and then a wheel – it looked like a plane wheel – bounced on the road and hit the front of the taxi as we were driving along,” he said.

* Associated Press