Tourists die in crash

FOUR US golfing tourists and their pilot died when their chartered plane exploded in a fireball after ploughing into the roof of a suburban Melbourne shopping centre yesterday.

The Beechcraft B200 King Air clipped the rear of a shop in the Essendon Direct Factory Outlet at 9am just metres from the Tullamarine Fwy, killing the five men.

Peak hour motorists watched on in horror as the explosion – likened to “an atomic bomb” – erupted when the plane sliced into the roof and then slammed into the loading dock area at the building’s rear.

Pilot Max Quartermain made at least one mayday call and tried to return to Essendon Airport moments before the crash.

Golfing buddies Greg DeHaven, Glenn Garland, Russell Munsch and a fourth man – flying to King Island in Bass Strait – were killed. US authorities were last night supporting the men’s wives, who were also holidaying in Melbourne.

Catastrophic engine failure appeared the likely cause of Victoria’s worst civil aviation accident in 30 years.

Witness Angelo Tsatas heard the doomed plane’s engine “revving” before watching its final seconds.

“I looked up and saw the plane banking to the left,” he said. It hit the roof and then exploded. The flames were that high they were above the roof of DFO. Cars were on fire, tyres were exploding. The heat was so intense.”

The plane was in flight for less than a minute before crashing into the DFO.

Time stamps released by the airport and Metropolitan Fire Brigade paint a frantic picture as the aircraft took off at 8.58am but quickly encountered trouble.

It issued a mayday call at an altitude of 60m and tried to turn back to the airport.

But less than a minute later an automated distress alarm was activated inside the discount shopping centre.

Air safety investigators will examine the crash site and radio and radar data along with the B200 King Air’s maintenance log.