Australia Plane Crash Kills Four Americans – US State Department

Greg Reynolds De Haven and Russell Munsch, both from Texas, were identified as victims by their families on social media.

Mr Quartermain and his wife Cilla are the owners of Corporate and Leisure Aviation, which had arranged the trip to King Island. It gained a slight degree of altitude before crashing into the back of the DFO (Direct Factory Outlet) and Focus on Furniture buildings that you see behind me. The crash happened Tuesday at around 9 a.m. local time, and according to Victoria Police’s Twitter.

He told the BBC: “Today is a desperately sad day“.

Victoria Premier David Andrews called the crash the state’s worst air accident in the past thirty years.

Firefighter’s battled the blaze in the shopping center.

The plane believed to be involved in the crash at Essendon DFO has zigzagged across Victoria with more than a dozen flights this year.

Professor Stone said the Beechcraft King Air is normally regarded as a very rugged and sturdy aircraft and also has exceptionally long range and performance characteristics.

Essendon airport, located some 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of Melbourne, is mostly used for small airplanes.

The emergency management commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said psychological support would be provided to emergency services personnel and witnesses to the crash, saying the government had “learned a lot from Bourke Street” about managing trauma.

“I could feel the heat through the window of the taxi, and then a wheel”, the driver told the station.

“The surrounding roads will be affected for some time”.

The fiery crash has reignited speculation over whether the airport, surrounded by homes, a retail outlet and freeway, should remain open.

Investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are en route to the scene of the crash.

Emotional staff members were met by loved ones as they emerged from the shopping centre.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed his sympathies to the victims of the plane crash.

DFO shopping centre is closed until further notice. There is also debris that has been left on the Freeway.