5 dead after small plane hits Australia shopping center

By Recep Sakar

MELBOURNE, Australia (AA) – Five people have died after a small plane crashed into a shopping center in the Australian city of Melbourne, local authorities said Tuesday.

Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews described the crash near an Essendon Airport runway as the “worst civil aviation accident that our state has seen for 30 years”.

The twin-engine charter flight took off at around 9 a.m. local time [2200GMT].

According to local media, some of the passengers may have been U.S. citizens who rented the aircraft to go Tasmania's King Island to play golf.

The shopping center was not open at the time of the accident.