Light plane crashes into shopping centre near Melbourne

Firefighters at the scene where a light plane crashed into the back of a building at Essendon airport in Melbourne, Australia. - Reuters

MELBOURNE: A light aircraft carrying five people crashed Tuesday in a “massive fireball”, hitting a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne and sending black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses and officials said.

The Beechcraft plane veered just after take-off into the shopping centre, that had yet to open, next to Essendon airport.