Several cars were torched by the fireball
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.
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.
"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.
The plane ploughed into the shopping centre as it was preparing to open
"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.
Fire crews had to tackle a large blaze which broke out
Damage at scene
The Australian
Transport Safety Bureau said it would investigate how the twin-engine
Beechcraft B200 King Air crashed soon after 09:00 local time on Tuesday
(22:00 GMT Monday).
Footage broadcast on local media showed fire and black smoke at the wreckage.
An aircraft wheel could be seen lying on the road by the crash site
Immediately I could tell it was something horrific, the explosion
would have gone 30m [100ft] high and ballooned upwards in red and
black," witness Mikey Cahill told the Herald Sun.
Another witness, Daniel May, said he was waiting for the shopping centre to open when the plane came down.
"There
was an orange explosion and then smoke," he told The Age. "Emergency
crews rushed very quickly in, soon after, and I left the area."
Employees from businesses inside were left shocked but unharmed
Police said they were evacuating the area and a nearby freeway was closed in both directions.
King Island, popular for its beaches and dairy farms, lies 245km (150 miles) south of Melbourne in Bass Strait.
No comments: