Golfing tourists in tragic crash near Essendon Airport

A charter plane carrying five people has crashed into the side of DFO shops near Essendon Airport this morning, shortly after taking off.

Per reports this morning on ABC, the plane made Mayday calls as it was taking off, suffering what Victorian Police said was a “catastrophic engine failure”.

UPDATE: ABC has since confirmed the five people on board the plane died in the accident in what authorities claim is Victoria’s worst civil aviation accident in 30 years. The ABC also reporters that US citizens were among those killed in the plane crash, but a US embassy spokesman in Canberra said that could not be confirmed.

The Calder Freeway and Tullamarine Freeways have both been closed in parts, with many motorists witnessing, and even documenting the crash on Twitter.

VicRoads has warned motorists to “expect heavy delays” and to exit early and avoid the area altogether. All access to the Essendon Airport is also closed.

Essendon Airport is a public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights.

Driving by a possible plane crash at #Essendon Airport and DFO pic.twitter.com/JpSCKbgxHN
— Belinda (@pelagonianprncs) February 20, 2017

The owner of boutique private charter flight operator, Corporate and Leisure Aviation, told the ABC she was waiting for confirmation from emergency services as to whether the aircraft was one of there’s.

But a State Government spokesperson has confirmed the Beechcraft charter flight was heading to King Island, a popular tourist destination for keen golfers, given the island’s two courses, Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes, are ranked the first and second-best public courses in the nation.

Cradle Coast Authority regional tourism manager Ian Waller previously confirmed to The Advocate that flights were regularly chartered to the island from Sydney and Melbourne for a golfing experience.

Launceston Airport operations and compliance manager Peter Holmes told The Advocate that the that crashed will not cause delays to flights in and out of Launceston Airport, however it may impact any Tasmanians who have flights departing from Essendon Airport today.

“The only advice we could give is [for passengers] to contact the airlines,” Holmes said.

#BREAKING: An Air Ambulance has crashed into the DFO factory outlet near Essendon Airport in Melbourne. #TMS7 pic.twitter.com/uLJuGUumKu
— The Morning Show (@morningshowon7) February 20, 2017

One witness who phoned in to ABC Radio Melbourne said he was driving on the freeway and saw the plane come crashing down into the buildings, with smoke billowing out and a fire erupting soon after.

While authorities have yet to release details about fatalities or injuries, Police Minister Lisa Neville told ABC, “It appears to be a very, very tragic accident that has occurred out there”.

The DFO shopping centre was not open at the time but skeleton staff inside were safely evacuated, while 13 fire-trucks arrived on the scene to contain the fire that broke out after the crash.

A retail outlet is ablaze after a light plane crashed at Essendon Airport, in Melbourne’s north https://t.co/ojWJRoizoO pic.twitter.com/8QzT96t3FZ
— ABC News (@abcnews) February 21, 2017

Flight path of the aircraft. Possibly catastrophic engine failure.
Whatever happened, it happened very quickly. #Essendon pic.twitter.com/gJE2TIPLvc
— Matt Di Toro (@matt_ditoro) February 20, 2017

Lead image: ABC

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corporate and leisure aviation essendon airport king island melbourne tourism