Four tourists, including three from Texas, and a pilot were killed when their small charter plane crashed into a shopping mall in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday.
Greg DeHaven of Spicewood, bankruptcy lawyer Russell Munsch of Austin, and retired Austin executive Glenn Garland have been identified by relatives on social media and Australian media reports as three of the victims.
The Australian pilot, Max Quartermain, and owner of the charter service that was ferrying the tourists on their golfing vacation, also was killed.
The U.S. Embassy in the Australian capital of Canberra confirmed that four victims were American citizens, but the fourth victim has not yet been identified.
The twin-propeller Beechcraft Super King Air was supposed to carry the four tourists from Melbourne, on Australia's southern coast, about 150 miles offshore to King Island, just north of Tasmania.
But shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed into an outlet mall near the airport in suburban Essendon about 45 minutes before shops were to open, Melbourne Police Minister Lisa Neville told the Associated Press.
The pilot reported a "catastrophic engine failure" moments before the plane crashed into a storage area at the rear of the mall, police said.
No one outside the plane was injured, Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said.
Munsch, who was an undergraduate at the University of Texas, was a founding partner of the Texas commercial law firm Munsch, Hardt, Kopf and Harr, which has offices in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Garland was a former CEO at Austin-based CLEAResult Consulting, which designs energy-efficiency programs and strategies for utilities and businesses.
De Haven, whose sister Denelle Wicht posted on Facebook that her 70-year-old brother had been killed "on a once in a lifetime trip to Australia" with friends, is listed as a professional golfer on his LinkedIn profile, with a skill in golf instruction.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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