Relatives of Osama Bin Laden are reportedly among the fatalities when the Phenom 300 jet crashed at Balckbushe Airport in Hampshire on Friday at 10:09am ET. Various media sources are reporting that Bin Laden's stepmother Rajaa Hashim and sister Sana were among those who were dead. Sana was also with his husband Zuhair Hashim at the time of the incident. The report was later confirmed by an unnamed member of the Bin Laden family who has spoken exclusively with NBC News.
Ambassador to Britain Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf has also confirmed the reports and has extended his condolences to the Bin Laden family.
"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 Blackbushe airport," Nawaf said in a statement obtained by The Telegraph.
"The embassy will follow up on the incident and its circumstances with the concerned British authorities and work on speeding up the handover of the bodies of the victims to the kingdom for prayer and burial," the statement said.
Witnesses who have spoken with the BBC were one in saying that the plane seemed to be coming at high velocity. The moment that the plane hit the airport, there was a loud bang, followed by an explosion and a huge cloud of dark smoke covered the area.
Geoff Pierce, an avid airplane photographer, said that the plane had approached the airport at an unbelievable speed.
"At first I didn't realize what was happening, I was taking photos at the time. The next thing I knew the siren was wailing on the control tower and then I saw a big plume of black smoke," Pierce told the BBC.
Another witness, Barry Wright, said he heard a "huge bang" before hearing a loud explosion.
"It started off instantly with smoke coming up, then there was a small flame from the top of the air craft, then...it just literally went into a ball of flames within a minute," Wright recalled.
Another witness, who wished not to be identified, said the plane seemed to be landing normally at first. However, it drastically changed its speed in the blink of an eye.
"I heard the jet and thought I would watch it land. I saw it going past, then it was about 20 feet off the ground and I thought, it's not got enough runway to land here. I could hear cars exploding over at the market," the witness said.
