Plane carrying 5 people hits Australian shopping mall

MELBOURNE, Australia: Five people were believed killed when a light plane crashed in flames into a shopping mall on Tuesday in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said.

The five were on 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 plane had taken off from Melbourne’s second-biggest airport at Essendon on a chartered flight to King Island, 255 kilometers (160 miles) to the south, Neville said.

The mall adjoins the airport.

Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said it appeared that no one aboard the plane had survived. No one on the ground was injured.