Dramatic footage showed the aftermath of the light-plane crash in Australia on Tuesday which killed all five people on board.
A pilot and four American passengers were killed when the small plane crashed in to the roof of a shopping mall after taking off from an airfield outside Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, police said.
Kane O’Toole, a carpenter who was working directly across the Tullamarine Freeway from the scene, was one of the first people to arrive on the scene and took a few video clips showing heavy smoke rising from the scene as firefighters were hosing down the fire.
O’Toole told Reuters that he witnessed the explosion and could feel the heat from the scene.
A cracking sound can also be heard from O’Toole’s footage.
WATCH: Australian PM quotes Winston Churchill in criticism of Trump’s fake news claims
The twin-turboprop Beechcraft King Air plane suffered engine failure and crashed into the mall near the end of the runway at Essendon Airport, according to Victoria state police assistant commissioner Stephen Leane .
Police said the plane crashed just before 9 a.m. local time Monday, about an hour before the Direct Factory Outlet shopping mall was due to open.
WATCH: Five confirmed dead after plane slams into mall in Australia
There were no fatalities other than those aboard the aircraft, police added.
In a police statement, all the victims were identified as men – the pilot was Australian and the four passengers were from the U.S..
The plane had been bound for King Island in Bass Strait between the mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania and Australian newspapers reported that at least two of the men were travelling to play golf on the island’s famed links.
Comments