A charter flight with five people on board crashed into a major retail centre in Melbourne on Tuesday morning.

No one on board the plane survived the incident.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has called the event the worst civil aviation accident in the state in 30 years.

The Beechcraft aircraft bound for King Island in Bass Strait was taking off from Melbourne’s Essendon airport around 9am before the pilot issued a mayday call saying there was catastrophic engine failure.

It took 13 trucks and 90 firefighters to fight the blaze that erupted as a result of the crash.

Nearby roads and the airport were shut down in response.

See photos of the incident that Victoria Police assistant commissioner Stephen Leane has described as “catastrophic” here.

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne’s Essendon Airport after the plane crashed

The plane was carrying five people when it crashed near the DFO shopping centre at around 9am this morning

Witnesses say they saw the plane come in fast and low before a fireball rose into the sky

The plane involved is believed to be a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, registration VH-OWN.

Here is the damage to the building after the plane crashed

DFO is visited by thousands of shoppers every day, but does not open until 10am.

Police found a wheel from the plane on a highway near the crash site

NOW READ: ‘NO ONE HAS SURVIVED’: Victoria reeling from worst aviation accident in 30 years

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