Tourists die in mall plane crash

AN Australian pilot and four American tourists on a golfing holiday have been killed after their charter plane crashed into a shopping mall shortly after take-off.

The twin-engine Beechcraft Super King Air crashed about 45 minutes before the Direct Factory Outlet mall in Essendon was due to open.

The plane had just taken off from Melbourne, on a flight to King Island, 160 miles to the south.

The US embassy in Canberra said four victims were Americans and two – Greg Reynolds De Haven and Russell Munsch – were identified by their families on social media.