Australian probe yet to explain plane crash that killed 5

CANBERRA, Australia – Investigators say a cockpit voice recorder failed to capture audio of the doomed flight of a light plane that crashed into the roof of an Australian shopping mall last month killing a pilot and four Americana tourists.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a preliminary report on Wednesday that Australian pilot Max Quartermain radioed “Mayday” seven times, but did not explain the emergency before the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200 plunged into the mall in Melbourne on Feb. 21 moments after takeoff from a nearby runway.

The pilot was taking passengers Greg Reynolds De Haven, Russell Munsch, Glenn Garland and John Howard Washburn — who all lived in the Austin, Texas, area — to King Island on a golfing trip.

The bureau has yet to explain the tragedy.