Late al-Qaeda leader's half sister and stepmother reportedly killed after plane crashes during landing at UK airport. The Saudi embassy in London has offered condolences to the Bin Laden family.
The plane reportedly crashed into a car auction site next to the airport [EPA]
British and Saudi media say members of Osama Bin Laden's family were among four people who died when a private Phenom 300 jet crashed on Friday while attempting to land at Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire, southern England.
Local police said the pilot and three passengers died in the crash on a car auction site. No one on the ground was injured.
In a tweet, 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."
"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," he said in the tweet.
Mohammed Bin Laden, a wealthy industry magnate who himself died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967, was the father of Osama, the supreme leader of the al Qaeda terrorist network killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.
The Bin Laden family is a prominent and numerous clan in Saudi Arabia that has wide-ranging business interests.
Saudi Arabia's General Authoritiy of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Friday that the plane was Saudi-registered, and that it would work with British authorities to investigate the accident.
A spokeswoman for the British police told the Reuters news agency: "There were no survivors, unfortunately. There were four people onboard including the pilot", but she did not provide their identities.
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.
Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US forces in Pakistan in 2011, ending a 10-year manhunt for the world's most wanted man, accused of being the mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
In those attacks, planes were hijacked and flown into New York City's World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
Before his death, the last known sighting of bin Laden by anyone other than his very close entourage was in late 2001 - as he prepared to flee his stronghold in Afghanistan.
British media reports said the plane had taken off from Milan, Italy. - Reuters
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