A private jet crashed and exploded on the grounds of a car dealership in Hampshire, England, yesterday afternoon, killing the pilot and all three passengers on board.
The three passengers are related to Osama bin Laden, according to local police, but have not been individually identified.
“We do believe three of the deceased to be the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family, but formal post-mortem examinations are ongoing,” Hampshire Police said in a statement.
Reports said the victims included bin Laden’s half-sister along with her husband and mother. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television named those killed as Sana’ Mohamed bin Laden, her husband Zuhair Hashem and Sana’s mother, Raja’ Hashem.
Saudi’s ambassador to the UK, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud offered his condolences to the wealthy Bin Laden family in a statement. He paid his “condolences to the family and relatives of Mohammed bin Laden at Blackbushe airport in Britain for the great loss they have suffered as a result of the crash of the plane that was carrying the family,” said the statement.
The late al Qaeda leader’s family is one of the most prominent business dynasties in Saudi Arabia.
The plane, an Embraer Phenom 300, was registered in Saudi Arabia and was arriving from Milan, Italy. It apparently overshot the runway at nearby Blackbushe airport.
A local aviation enthusiast named Robert Belcher, who witnessed the crash, told the Press Association that this particular jet has “been a regular visitor to the airport for a few months.”