Five people were killed after a plane crashed into a shopping mall in the Australian city of Melbourne on Tuesday, officials said.
The twin-engine Beechcraft Super King Air crashed into the Direct Factory Outlet Mall in suburban Essendon, around 45 minutes before the mall was scheduled to open to public, Police Minister Lisa Neville said.
The plane was ferrying passengers from the Essendon airport to King Island. Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said it appeared that no one aboard the plane had survived. No one on the ground 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," Leane told reporters.
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 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 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.
This copy was updated after the news of the death was reported.
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)