Melbourne Plane Crash, Victims Named (Photos)

This image made from video shows the site of a plane crash at Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Australia Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. An official says a light plane has crashed into a shopping mall in the city of Melbourne. (Channel 9 via AP)

A commercial charter flight heading from Essendon Airport in Melbourne to King Island in the Bass Strait crashed in a “massive fireball” into a shopping center near the airport, shortly after takeoff killing all the five people on board.

Sky News reported that the Beechcraft Super King Airplane came in ‘low and fast’ before it crashed onto DFO (Direct Factory Outlet) at Essendon Fields at about 9am on Tuesday, February 21, 2017.

The twin-engine aircraft which was owned by Myjet had been hired by Corporate and Leisure Travel.

None of the staff at the shopping center which was not yet open to the public was injured or killed.

News Corp has confirmed the identity of the pilot as an Australian man named Max Quartermain while the United States state department has confirmed to US network NBC in a statement that all of the four passengers were Americans. 

According to Sky News report, two of the four passengers are Greg Reynolds De Haven and Russell Munsch, as being named by their families on social media.

Police said that the plane had a “catastrophic engine failure” and was turning back to the airport before it crashed.

Both the Essendon airport and the DFO shopping centre are closed to allow for investigations.

Below are photos of the aftermath:

A huge cloud of smoke could be seen from the nearby airport

Witnesses said the plane clipped a JB Hi-Fi store before exploding in the adjacent Spotlight venue. Source: AAP

Witnesses described the shockwave felt after the plane crashed into the shopping centre. Photo: 7 News.

Five on board the plane were killed on impact. Photo: 7 News.

Melbourne’s Tullamarine Freeway was declared a crime scene as what appears to be one of the wheels from the plane came to rest on the roadway. Photo: AAP

The damage at the back of the DFO building where the plane hit. Source: AAP

Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville has confirmed that five passengers were onboard the plane. (Yahoo News)

The plane nosedived into the DFO shopping centre on the Tullamarine Freeway in Melbourne’s north. Source: Facebook/Yahoo News

A car parked out the front of Spotlight was destroyed in the blaze. Source: Yahoo News

This image made from video shows the site of a plane crash at Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Australia Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. An official says a light plane has crashed into a shopping mall in the city of Melbourne. (Channel 9 via AP)

In this image made from video, smoke billows from the site of a plane crash at Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Australia Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. An official says a light plane has crashed into a shopping mall in the city of Melbourne. The mall adjoins the airport. (Channel 9 via AP)

This image made from video shows the site of a plane crash at Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Australia Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. An official says a light plane has crashed into a shopping mall in the city of Melbourne. (Channel 9 via AP)

Charlie Hebdo’s Idea Of Freedom of Religion And Freedom Of Speech

“Every time we draw a cartoon of Mohammed, every time we draw a cartoon of prophets, every time we draw a cartoon of God, we defend the freedom of religion,” – Gérard Biard,.

Firstly as a Muslim, I do not support the mass shooting at Charlie Hebdo’s office and it must not been done in the name of Islam because it is wrong according to the teaching of Islam Ahli As-Sunnah Wa Al-Jama`ah, as what we practise in Malaysia.

Now, it is always interesting to see how people interpret freedom of speech and freedom of religion and use them for their own agendas.

I do not understand why humiliating and disgracing religions can be regarded as defending freedom of religion.

Freedom of religion means the rights for everybody to manifest his or her religion in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; and not the rights for everybody to insult religions.

So people who support freedom of religion must respect these rights and not the other way around.

When one make fun and disgraces a religion, the person no longer respect the rights of the believers of that religion; hence there is no more freedom of religion.

Then talking about freedom of expression and freedom of speech, some people believe in total freedom and that they have the rights to do anything or say anything they like, including to purposely hurting or insulting others and there is no limit to how far they can go.

I cannot comment about the French law regarding freedom of expression and freedom of speech because I do not know about the constitution of the country; however as a civilised and responsible person I think that it is weird to purposely make fun and insult religion just because the law allows one to do so.

Just because my mother bought me a big box of my favourite chocolate, it does not mean that I should eat them all at once, because that will not be healthy; and so I must think before I do something.

In Malaysia, there is a limit to freedom of expression and freedom of speech as written in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and making fun of other religions is against the teaching of Islam.

It is a good thing because we must learn to respect each other and while some people love to insult others, most of them do not like to be insulted in return.

And while the supporters of Charlie Hebdo want others to respect their freedom of expression and freedom of speech, they themselves cannot respect the freedom of expression and freedom of speech of others.

They slam Pope Francis for saying:

“There is a limit. Every religion has its dignity … in freedom of expression there are limits,” and that “one cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith.”

And Gérard Biard denounced the Western publications that have declined to reprint his paper’s controversial cartoons, he told NBC that:

“When they refuse to publish this cartoon, when they blur it out, when they decline to publish it, they blur out democracy.”

Isn’t democracy means the right for everybody to choose what we want?

So if Gérard Biard and his supporters believe in democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of speech, they must not slam the Pope and those publications for not following their ideas.