Members of the emergency services attend the scene of the crash. PHOTO: AFP
YATELEY: Members of Osama bin Laden’s family were among four people killed when a private jet crashed into a car auction lot in Britain, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in London said Saturday.
While the embassy did not identify the dead, a source close to the family indicated that they were Bin Laden’s stepmother Raja Hashim, his sister Sanaa, the sister’s husband Zuhair Hashem, and a Jordanian pilot.
The Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet came down on Friday as it tried to land at Blackbushe Airport, a small airfield in Hampshire, southern England.
Police confirmed that three passengers and the pilot had died. Officers have launched an investigation into what caused the crash alongside the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
The Saudi ambassador “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 Blackbushe airport,” a statement posted on the embassy’s Twitter account said. The embassy also said it would work with British authorities to investigate the incident and repatriate the bodies for burial in Saudi Arabia.
Footage of the aftermath of Friday’s crash showed plumes of black smoke rising into the sky and several cars on fire in the outdoor area of British Car Auctions, where vehicles were parked awaiting sale.
On its website, Blackbushe Airport says it “provides some of the finest executive and private aviation facilities anywhere in the UK”.
Robert Belcher, a local plane enthusiast who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, said the jet had been a ‘regular visitor’ to the airport in recent months.
“I was passing the airport on my way home and there was a big column of smoke in the air,” he said. “I could see the plume of smoke waving from about five miles away and was hoping it was just a car fire rather than an aircraft accident.”
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said in a statement Friday that the plane was registered in the Gulf state and that it would work with British investigators to determine the cause of the crash.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2015.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ