A private jet crashed as it attempted to land in southern England yesterday afternoon, and with it took the lives of some of Osama bin Laden's relatives. The Saudi ambassador to the UK confirmed the news and tweeted his condolences, but did not identify the dead. Police say the plane had been en route from Milan to England, that the accident occurred as it was trying to land at an airfield about 40 miles from London, and that a pilot and three passengers were aboard, reports the AP. NBC News reports by way of a family friend that bin Laden's stepmother, Rajaa Hashim; half-sister, Sana bin Laden; and her husband were the passengers.
A witness tells the AP that "the plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact." If confirmed, the Guardian reports it wouldn't be the first airplane tragedy to strike the family, which disowned Osama in 1994: Osama's father, Mohammed bin Laden, died in a 1967 crash, and Mohammed's first son died in an ultralight aircraft crash in the US in 1988. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)
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