Melbourne plane crash: Five killed as aircraft hits shopping centre

Media captionAerial footage from Channel 9 News shows the aftermath of the crash

Five people have died after a light plane crashed into a shopping centre in Melbourne, Australia.

The charter flight appeared to have had a "catastrophic engine failure" shortly after taking off from the small Essendon Airport, said Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane.

The plane ploughed into the shopping centre as it was preparing to open

Everyone on board is believed dead. "At this stage the advice we have is there are no fatalities other than on the aircraft itself," said the commissioner.

Fire crews had to tackle a large blaze which broke out

"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." The shopping centre was not open to the public at the time.

Several cars were torched by the fireball

A huge cloud of smoke could be seen from the nearby airport

"Today is a desperately sad day," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said. "A number of people have died as a result of what is the worst civil aviation accident that our state has seen for 30 years."


A spokeswoman for Spotlight, a retailer in the complex, said the plane crashed into its rear warehouse but all staff were safe. "Today is a desperately sad day," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.

"A number of people have died as a result of what is the worst civil aviation accident that our state has seen for 30 years." A spokeswoman for Spotlight, a retailer in the complex, said the plane crashed into its rear warehouse but all staff were safe.