Several Die as Plane Crashes into Melbourne Shops  

Melbourne: Several people died aboard a light aircraft that smashed into a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne, the state premier said.

He described it as the state's worst air accident in three decades.

The Beechcraft private charter veered just after take-off into the shopping centre, that had yet to open, next to Essendon Fields airport, just north of Melbourne.

Live television footage showed burned out wreckage, flames and major damage at the shopping centre and adjacent buildings. A column of thick black smoke rose into the air as witnesses spoke of an explosion.

A taxi driver called ABC radio and told of the "massive fireball".

"I saw this plane ... when it hit the building there was a massive fireball," said the man called Jason.

"I could feel the heat through the window of the taxi, and then a wheel -- it looked like a plane wheel -- bounced on the road and hit the front of the taxi as we were driving along."

Victoria police superintendent Mick Frewen said investigations centred on a "catastrophic engine failure".

The flight made a May-Day call before crashing, he added.

(AFP)