Five people have died as a result of Victoria’s worst civil aviation accident in 30 years, after a plane crashed into a shopping centre near Melbourne’s Essendon Airport, authorities say.

Witnesses described seeing the plane erupt into a “massive fireball” after it smashed into the DFO centre just after 9:00am.

Victorian Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said five people were on board and none had survived the crash.

“At this stage, the advice we have is there are no fatalities other than on the aircraft itself,” he said.

The plane called mayday as it was taking off and Victoria Police Superintendent Mick Frewen said it appeared to be affected by a “catastrophic engine failure”.

The plane crashed into the back of two shops, Focus on Furniture and JB Hi Fi, he said.

A spokeswoman for the outlet’s Spotlight store said part of that store’s warehouse and dispatch area was also hit.

Twenty staff were in the building, but none were injured and all had been offered counselling, she said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said it was a “desperately sad day” for the state.

“A number of people have died,” he said.

“We are currently reaching out to their families to provide them with the support that they need to try to comfort them at what must be just such a horrible moment.

“Beyond that, there are a number of people who witnessed this terrible accident and they have been given the support, the psychological first aid that they need by Ambulance Victoria.”

Earlier, a State Government spokesperson said a Beechcraft charter flight that was travelling to King Island crashed soon after take-off.

The Australian Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) said it had deployed a team of four investigators to the scene.

Michael Howard, 29, was at his plumbing job when he saw a “blue flash” come down over the DFO billboard.

“I was talking to one of the boys and I was just looking out the window towards that way and then all of a sudden I just saw a blue flash come down and then all of a sudden there was a massive fireball,” he said.

“[I thought] what the hell? That doesn’t happen every day. Yeah it was crazy, it was like something from a movie.”

Adelaide man Jason told ABC Radio Melbourne he was in a taxi and saw the plane coming in low and fast.

“The plane was coming way, way fast. I thought that’s faster than normal,” he said.

“It looked like it hit the building, there was a massive fireball, I could feel the heat through the window.

“Then a wheel, it looked like a plane wheel, bounced on the road.”

Michael, another caller, said he was driving on the freeway and saw the crash happen.

“I was merging onto the Calder Freeway from the Tullamarine Freeway and I saw the plane come down over the airport and the impact into the buildings,” he said.

“I saw the plane come [in] and [saw] the explosion sort of behind the pre-cast concrete wall.

“I saw the plane swoop down and it sort of went over the shopping centre and then there was a big explosion and a black plume of smoke that came out.

“It definitely wasn’t a good sight.”

Local resident Mickey Cahill told ABC News 24 the aircraft was flying precariously close to houses before the incident, which happened under cloudless skies in seemingly good conditions.

“Straight away I thought it was the airport. I whipped out my phone but police were sending everybody away,” he said.

“The smoke has cleared now but initially it was really kind of dark-as-midnight smoke rising up.

“It looked really ominous.”

Pilot radar websites indicate the plane was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air.

The owner of boutique private charter flight operator Corporate and Leisure Aviation told the ABC she was waiting to hear back from emergency services to confirm whether it was theirs.

VicRoads said there were a number of road closures in the area, including access routes to Essendon Airport.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.