Fireball as charter plane slams into shopping centre

A chartered aircraft carrying five people has crashed into a factory outlet shopping centre in the Australian city of Melbourne, bursting into flames and closing nearby freeways.

Officials said the twin-engine Beechcraft aircraft crashed soon after a 9am take-off from Essendon Airport and was on a charter flight to King Island, near Tasmania. 

 Reports suggested a "catastrophic" engine failure shortly after take-off and that the pilot is understood to have issued two Mayday calls  before veering left and crashing.

None of the occupants, which included four American tourists believed to heading to the island on a golfing trip, survived what was described by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews as Victoria's worst civil aviation accident in 30 years. 

The pilot, Max Quartermain, was in his sixties and was a veteran of the charter business well known to operators at Essendon.

 The aircraft had recently received maintenance for a hydraulic problem, and was test flown by Quartermain afterward, but sources were not aware of other issues with the plane or with the way it was maintained.

Witnesses reported the plane was flying low before it hit the DFO shopping centre next to the airport,  exploding and sending debris on to nearby roads. The shopping mall was closed at the time but some staff were in the centre,. However, police later confirmed there were no fatalities on the ground.

"No one inside the buildings at the time of the crash was injured, however a number of people who witnessed the incident were treated for shock at the scene,'' police said.

Commuters recounted their shock and the violence of the explosion.

"There was a massive ball of flame – I could feel the heat even though my wife was driving and I was in the passenger seat with my window closed," witness Peter  Scullin, who was driving nearby, told The Age newspaper.

"(It was) just like you see on ... in a movie, where you see these special effects. The ball of flame went 30 or 40 feet into the air. We got out to see whether the outside of the car had had any paint blistering."

Thirteen fire crews were called in to fight the blaze caused by the crash and the airport was closed. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash and has appealed to witnesses to contact it on 1800 020616.