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

"A number of people have died as a result of what is the worst civil aviation accident that our state has seen for 30 years," Victoria  premier Daniel Andrews said.

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.