Saudi official says bin Ladens killed in England plane crash

Osama bin Laden was the leader of the global terrorist organization Al Qaeda.

On Friday evening a private plane crashed in Hampshire, killing three members of Osama Bin Laden’s family.

The Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper, citing a statement by the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), said on its website that the Embraer Phenom 300 with three passengers and the pilot crashed during takeoff from Blackbushe airport.

The BBC reported that the aircraft had taken off from Milan’s Malpensa Airport in Italy.

“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.

An immediate investigation has been launched to find out the cause of the incident, a spokesman of Hampshire police service said .

The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf al Saud, offered condolences to the Bin Laden family on Twitter, without naming the family members.

The family as a whole disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship for militant activities.

The Saudi Arabia-registered plane had ploughed into a auto auction site and burst into flames. The bin Laden family is large and is spread around the world.

The official Saudi Press Agency earlier identified the plane as Saudi-owned without mentioning the bin Ladens.

Salem bin Laden, the half-brother of Osama, died in 1988 when his aircraft drifted into high-voltage power lines in San Antonio, Texas.

The Saudi Ambassador to Britain explained that the priority was to work with British authorities to provide a thorough investigation while ensuring the bodies of the deceased be quickly transferred home for burial.

Gambrell reported from Cairo.

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