The sister and stepmother of the former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were reportedly among the dead after a business jet crashed at a private airport in Hampshire and ploughed into a car auction centre.
A family friend told NBC that the dead included Osama bin Laden’s stepmother Rajaa Hashim, his half-sister Sana bin Laden and her husband Zuhair Hashim. Their names have been widely reported on multiple Arabic media websites, but are not yet confirmed by police or family members. Saudi princess Basmah bint Saud, who is based in London, released a statement on her official website naming the victims, saying she heard the news with great sadness.
Without confirming the identities of the victims, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, offered condolences on the embassy’s official Twitter account to the Bin Laden family, a prominent Saudi Arabia clan with vast business interests.
“His royal highness Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz, the ambassador of the custodian of the two holy mosques to the United Kingdom, offered his condolences to the sons of the late Mohammed bin Laden and their relations for the grave incident of the crash of the plane carrying members of the family at Balckbushe airport,” the Saudi ambassador said in the tweet.
The Saudi embassy said it was working with British authorities to investigate the incident and to ensure the speedy handover of the bodies for funerals and burials in the kingdom. The country’s civil aviation authority said it was sending a representative to the UK to assist British investigators.
Aviation experts expressed bafflement at the cause the crash.
The £7m state-of-the-art plane, equipped with fly-by-wire electronic systems that are supposed to make it easy to control, was a regular visitor to the airport, according to local pilots.
It was attempting a landing in near-perfect conditions on a runway that was fitted with Precision Approach Path Indicators (Papis). The four indicators, which can be seen from more than half a mile away, all flash white if the pilot is coming in too high and red if too low.
“It doesn’t make sense to me, as an ordinary pilot, why something that advanced and easy to fly would bury itself in the auction ground at the end of such a long runway,” said Simon Moores, a flight instructor and pilot who has flown from Blackbushe many times.
Saudi media suggested that the dead included the sister and stepmother of Osama bin Laden, who was shot dead by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the reports, but it emerged that the aircraft was registered to a firm owned by the Bin Laden family.
Police would neither confirm nor deny on Friday night whether they were investigating reports that any members of the family were on board.
Barry Wright, who was working close to the crash site, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It was as though a missile had come flying down. It was the sound of what you hear in the movies, followed by a huge bang and then an explosion. There was instantly smoke coming up and then there were small flames from the top of the aircraft, and then literally it went into a ball of flames within a minute.” The light aircraft, which had with space for up to nine passengers and was thought to be worth £6m, crashed as it attempted to land at Blackbushe airport, seven miles north-west of Farnborough, a spokesman for the airport said.
The website Flight Radar, which tracks air traffic, shows a flight matching that description circling the airport, before appearing to come in to land. The flight took off from Milan’s Malpensa airport.
Acting chief inspector Olga Venner, of Hampshire police, speaking from the scene, said: “We can confirm that there were four people on board, including the pilot.
“Sadly, there were no survivors. No one on the ground has been injured and we would urge anyone with any information, including pictures or videos, to contact 101.”
Venner said police have launched a joint investigation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
The airport’s spokesman said: “A Phenom 300 jet with four persons on board crashed near the end of the runway around 3.09pm while attempting to make a landing,” he said.
“The scene was attended by Blackbushe fire and rescue within minutes, followed by Hampshire fire, police and ambulance units. Emergency services are currently controlling the scene.”
Hampshire fire brigade sent four pumps and a Land Rover to the scene, while South East Coast ambulance service confirmed a multi-vehicle response.
A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said it had received reports that the aircraft missed the runway and crashed into the British Car Auctions site at the airport.
A group of people, believed to be the family of the victims, were escorted to the site by police officers.
A resident who did not want to be named said he saw the plane come down while he was repairing his chimney. “I was on the roof and I heard the jet,” he said.
“I saw it going past, then it was about 20ft off the ground and I thought, ‘It’s not got enough runway to land here’. It was too high as it was coming in to land and didn’t touch the runway.
“The next thing I heard was the crash sirens and a big plume of smoke going up. It was a really big plume of smoke and I could hear cars exploding over at the market.”
Daphne Knowles, 70, who lives nearby, told the GetSurrey news site: “The engines were screaming far too much and the aircraft was trying to land – I’m a glider pilot and I thought it’s far too low to the ground.”
Blackbushe airport provides facilities for private jets and hosts a flying school. It was a originally an RAF base and was once a busy passenger airport before the growth of Gatwick and Heathrow eclipsed it.
Air accidents have befallen the family in the past. Osama’s father, Mohammed bin Laden was killed in a plane crash in 1967. Mohammed’s eldest son, Salem, died when an ultralight aircraft he was piloting hit power lines in the US in 1988.